Oh schneezus!
by jin0uga
Summary: "Are you even listen…ing?" She trailed off. An older Ruby stared at her surroundings, her jaw unhinging itself when she realized where she was. This was definitely not their room…and these teeny boppers were definitely, not her girlfriend. Whiterose. [Complete]
1. Side A - Part 1

_Side A part 1_

* * *

Everyone jumped back in a distinctly comical fashion when they heard Ruby sneeze.

Sneeze. In a workshop. While holding vials of _dust_.

"DUCK AND COVER!" Nora all but screamed as she dived behind a bench. The rest of the students' present followed suit with screams of their own, and they escaped just in time to avoid the blast of heat, the crimson haired girl triggering an explosion of epic proportions.

Ruby's vision went red, every muscle in her body shrieking as she felt the world give way beneath her feet.

* * *

"Ruby? Oh grimm and dust, are you alive?" The wielder of Magnhild cursed as she peeked out from behind the workbench.

The cacophony of coughs and sneezes lessened as the smoke slowly began to clear, everyone warily observing their surroundings as they emerged from their respective hiding places. Some set about looking for tissues to dab at their watery eyes, while others brushed the lint off their clothes, muttering curses under their breath.

Ren coughed as he took a shaky step forward, waiting for his vision to clear. "Nora!" He called, his voice cutting through the din. "Do you see anything?"

"Nope!" Nora said, before her expression fell. "Oh no. Yang is going to kill us! We're gonna have to quit Beacon and hide in some far off continent to avoid her. We may even need to _change our names_."

"What are you talking about?" Her partner said, looking rightly confused. "That explosion had nothing to do with us."

"Great idea, Ren! I mean– _Yeah_ it wasn't our fault. Psh, we had _nothing_ to do with it." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "To fool our enemies, we must first fool our comrades. Let's hope Yang believes us. If she doesn't, we'll just go into hiding for about…ten years, give or take?"

She nodded sagely, her mop of bright orange hair clearly bobbing up and down through the mild haze. Ren groaned quietly. He really needed to stop Nora from watching too much TV, she was getting more dramatic than usual. As if video games hadn't corrupted her enough.

At this point, the smoke had lessened considerably, and the students had gathered their courage to venture into the scene of the explosion. Just then, a groan rang loudly throughout the room, making everyone jump.

"God damn it." The voice was unmistakably Ruby's and yet, it was an octave lower than normal and sounded distinctly… _adult_. "You need to stop pushing me off the bed. I swear to oum, if you do that again, I'm not going to wear that outfit you picked out–"

The tall, lithe figure stood and leaned against the edge of the bench, rubbing her temples in small circles. "Are you even listen…ing?" She trailed off. An older Ruby stared at her surroundings, her jaw unhinging as she took in her surroundings.

This was definitely not their room…and these teeny boppers were definitely, _not_ her girlfriend. She took in a deep breath.

"Oh fuck me." She cursed, blanching when she became aware of her state of dress. Or the correct term would be, her state of _undress_.

The older version of Ruby let out a small 'eep' and yanked the tablecloth off one of the nearby tables, causing all the tools to slide off the sheet and scatter noisily all over the floor. With the sharp fluorescent lights shining down on them, the white sheet that she wrapped around herself did a terrible job at concealing the lingerie clad body of the huntress, the flimsy thing barely long enough to reach her knees.

Everyone drank in the alluring form of the very attractive woman, some students even fainting dead away. Nora let out a wolf-whistle, "Hot damn!" The orange haired girl cheered, pumping her fist into the air. A quick glance at Ren made a sly smile spread across her face. The boy's face was nearly burning in embarrassment. "Gosh, Ren, you really look like you want a piece of that booty!"

" _Nora_!" Ruby and Ren yelled simultaneously. At the outburst, both parties turned to face each other, their eyes meeting in surprise. Ren then shook his head wryly, unable to believe that the half-naked woman hiding behind a plastic sheet had been one of the most innocent people ever to walk the halls of Beacon.

Ren shivered. Puberty was _dangerous_.

"Er, guys." Ruby cocked her head to the side, annoyed at all the stares she was getting. "This sheet is real nice and all, but getting dressed sometime today would be good." Her gaze raked across the room, and she rolled her eyes when someone sighed dreamily.

Nora beamed at her. The action made alarm bells go off in Ruby's head.

"Alright, I know just the place!" Nora glanced at Ren and gave him the barest of nods. He responded with a small nod of his own, if somewhat reluctantly. Ruby looked between the two, not understanding why they were suddenly silent. And then-

" _Get her!"_

Ruby yelped when her arms were seized. They pulled her out of the workshop, the force of their combined strength toppling her and sending her stumbling after her captors.

* * *

The three of them walked through the hallways, Ruby letting out an annoyed grunt whenever a student they'd passed stopped to stare at her. To Nora's credit, the girl shooed them away when she realised how much Ruby was beginning to fidget. Her actions were always rewarded by a grateful smile that could've made the toes of lesser humans, curl.

As they neared the dorm room of team JNPR, Nora broke out in a skip, but was thankfully held back by Ren's patented looks.

"You guys didn't need to drag me along, you know." Ruby said, breaking the silence, "I would have come if you'd just asked."

Nora laughed and shook her head. "We're not going to fall for that! Don't try anything funny, older Ruby person, we'll get the answers out of you soon enough." The sentence was punctuated by an ominous cackle that made the crimson haired woman sigh.

She turned to look at Ren. "You realize that both of you have yet to ask me anything, right?"

He had the decency to look somewhat apologetic but the grip on her wrist held firm. The woman shrugged, resigning herself to her fate. She would have broken free already, but it was either this, or running around the campus in her birthday suit. This was obviously the lesser of two evils.

' _And besides,_ ' The Ruby of twenty three grinned. ' _It'll be fun to take a trip down memory lane_.'

When they finally reached their destination, Ruby was gently escorted – read, pushed – inside. Ruby rubbed her wrists in relief. The two had let go once the door had clicked shut, and now, Nora rushed to the closet to dig up something respectable their guest, while Ren set to brewing a cup of tea.

Ruby grimaced at the flimsy piece of plastic she was holding. Gods, she missed her cape. Her musings were interrupted by a shout of, "Here's a pair of sweats!"

Grey sweatpants flew across the room, eliciting a snort of laughter from Ren when it smacked Ruby in the face.

"Okay, which one do you like better? This one-"

Nora held up a largish brown tank top that would expose more than was completely necessary. Who knew that Pyrrha liked this sort of thing?

"-Or this one?"

Nora held up a red oversized shirt with the words ' _I fought in the Mistral championship and all I got was this lousy T-shirt'_ printed across the front in big, bolded letters. Ruby chuckled. Now that was a good shirt.

"The second one." She remarked, smiling when said shirt was tossed to her. She caught it before it hit her in the face, and rolled her eyes when Nora pouted.

"Aw, I was hoping you'd choose the first one." She shut the closet door with an over dramatic sigh, making Ren shake his head good naturedly.

"Nope, no way." Ruby snorted. "At your age, I would've spontaneously combusted if anyone showed that much skin." She coughed when she caught them staring at her exposed legs, "And besides, I think you've seen enough for today."

Nora and Ren looked away with a blush. Hey, it wasn't their fault that the woman was so darn good lookin'!

"Well…I guess I'll be borrowing your bathroom."

"Hey c'mon!" Nora protested. "We're all girls here, and it's not like you're naked or anything. You could just put on those clothes."

" _Nora_!" Ren pleaded. The mere thought of seeing Ruby in her undressed state again was making him light headed.

"Oh, right." The girl slumped against her bed, crestfallen. "Fine, it looks like you win, Ruby. Wait a sec, you _are_ Ruby right? Or are you her evil twin." Nora waggled her eyebrows, "Her _hotter_ evil twin."

Ruby snorted, feeling an smile creep onto her face. "Close, but no. I'm not her twin. I'm her, but from the future." She held up her hand before they released a barrage of possibly headache inducing questions. "I'll explain everything. But let me get dressed before I blow your minds."

At their respective (if confused) nods, Ruby turned and headed for the bathroom. It was just her luck that the door suddenly burst open. Jaune and Pyrrha stood at the doorway with matching stunned expressions, their jaws flapping at the sight before them. Ren subtly face palmed, and Nora clutched her sides as she began to laugh uproariously.

Ruby shook her head, and muttered, "This is going to be a _long_ day."

* * *

"Wow." Jaune breathed, shaking his head. Folding his arms, he looked to Nora for some kind of sign that this was all just one big prank, as if the younger Ruby would suddenly run through the door, screaming ' _gotcha_!'

Ruby nodded. "Yeah. That's basically it. It looks like my past self was some kind of genius."

Pyrrha leaned back, scratching her head. "I'm not one to believe in such things," She admitted after a beat of silence, "But seeing as the proof is right in front of me…" Ruby gave her a grin and a thumbs up. Pyrrha blushed, noting that the red haired girl had filled out extremely well. Too well, actually. "But how are you going to go back? Is this going to be permanent?"

Ruby shrugged. "I dunno, but I doubt it. Won't me being here affect the past, or something?"

"We'd be experiencing the results of this mishap if that were true." Ren pointed out. "If we follow this train of logic, there's a large chance this might be a temporary arrangement." All five of them nodded, relief visible on their faces.

Nora let out a sudden gasp. "What about your team, Ruby? I mean, it's awesome that you're here and all, but Yang is probably going to flip."

Ruby groaned. She'd conveniently forgotten to about the consequences of her younger self's actions. Weiss was right. She really did have a knack for getting into trouble. A grin split Ruby's face at that thought, the woman suddenly remembering what had been occurring before the switch took place. Her younger self would be in for a nice surprise.

"Er, do you think they would've heard about the accident by now?" Jaune asked, his forehead creasing in worry. "There was a pretty big explosion, right?"

"I'm not sure, but–"

Yang barrelled through the door, her hair ablaze. The temperature in the room leaped at her arrival, crimson eyes burning with fury as she stomped into the room. Jaune and Nora shrank at the sight of the intimidating figure and crawled behind their respective partners. Ren sighed. Pyrrha's lips curled upward into an amused smile.

"Where's Ruby?" Yang demanded.

"Right here." Ruby raised her hand, a large smirk spreading across her face. "Sup, lil' sis?"

Yang did a double take, hands falling to her side in surprise as she gaped at Ruby. Distracted by the sight of how Ruby looked, she didn't notice team JNPR sigh, Nora and Jaune shaking hands at having averted the disaster. I

Wiping the beads of sweat off her brow, the wielder of Magnhild laughed weakly.

"Wha-?" The blonde spluttered, "Rubes, you look– why are you so _old_?!"

"Hey!" Ruby snapped. For dust sakes, she could barely even be considered an adult! Now that was just plain rude.

"Can someone tell me what the fuck is happening?" Yang threw her hands up in frustration, looking fit to explode. Seeing that Yang's hair was beginning to take that ethereal glow once more, Pyrrha quickly tried to explain, not wanting the room to be burnt into a crisp.

"There was dust explosion, and our Ruby switched places with her future self." Pyrrha made a face as soon as she said it. Wow, that sounded a lot dumber out loud.

"It's true." Ruby nodded, "And I'm only twenty three you ass." She finished, pursing her lips.

Yang shook her head, letting out a large groan. "I can't believe this is happening."


	2. Side A - Part 2

Weiss smiled down at her notes, letting out a deep sigh of satisfaction. She gathered up her small stack of homework –inked with neat, cursive handwriting– and filed them into their appropriate binders. A job well done, if she did say so herself. Weiss smiled smugly, feeling quite proud for finishing up her assignments just shy of a week before their deadline. Yang could eat her words when she made a jab about being too lax in her school work.

With everything finally in place, the heiress relaxed into her chair, drumming her fingers on her armrest as she thought of what to do next. With homework checked off her mental list, she had little things to do other than reading or perhaps doing a little more studying.

Reaching for the can of coffee on her desk, she very nearly missed her mark when a shiver suddenly wracked her body. Her eyebrows rose, the girl suddenly seized by conflicting emotions.

"…What was that?" Weiss muttered, glancing around warily. Trying to shrug off the uneasy feeling that gathered in her gut, her fingers wrapped itself around the cool metal of the coffee can and brought it to her lips.

"WEISS YOU GOTTA COME SEE THIS!"

The scream of gibberish had come out of nowhere and sufficed to say, it surprised Weiss, making her choke. She spewed out the mouthful of coffee, thumping her chest with one hand. Yang stood at the doorway, the door swinging back and forth as it tried to dispense the kinetic energy produced by the strength she'd used to fling it open. Blake stood behind her, shaking her head in exasperation.

"Yang." The cat Faunus sighed. "The door."

"Who cares about that?" Yang exclaimed, the excited expression never fading. Blake noted that it seemed to have grown even more after her quip, and that knowledge made her roll her eyes. This girl.

Weiss grimaced at the sticky, brown mess. Wiping away the rest of the coffee that dripped down her chin, she eyed her sleeve in annoyance and fought the urge to turn around and freeze the blonde in a block of ice. She firmly told herself that wasting dust on Yang would only egg her on in her quest to drive her _nuts_.

"It's ruined…" Weiss groaned, glancing down at her outfit. The pristine white was marred by a light brown stain, and the soaked material stuck against her skin. Grabbing some tissues and wiping down the desk the best she could while Yang and Blake bickered behind her, Weiss finally rounded on them with the fiercest glower she could muster.

"What. Is. Your. Goddamn. Problem?" She snarled.

Yang took one look at her and burst out laughing. Typical.

"H-Holy crap, what happened? Did I scar–"

Yang was cut off when Blake quickly lay a hand on her shoulder. From the look on Weiss's face, she wouldn't be terribly surprised if Yang got a right hook to the jaw.

"That's enough, Yang." She said, shooting an apologetic look in the heiress's direction.

Dust knows the girl deserved a break from Yang's quips. _Especially_ when she hadn't heard what had happened to Ruby yet.

"What's going on, you two?" Weiss sighed, massaging her temples. Blake's intervention had tempered her fury. For the most part. "And you'd better have a good reason for bursting in like that."

"Are you gonna tell her?" The boxer turned to Blake. "Or can I?"

"I don't see how it would make a difference." Came the unenthused reply. "Or maybe we can just show her–"

"Will you please just get on with it? I'm not keen on sitting here all day." Weiss supplied dryly as she watched her teammates quibble among themselves. Her good mood had been vaporised by Yang's explosive entrance, and all she felt like doing now was changing out of her coffee stained clothes and crawl under her covers for a _long_ nap.

"What are you guys arguing about? Is Weiss there or not?" Called a familiar voice.

The heiress's eyebrows arched. That voice…was that Ruby? No, but her partner's voice didn't sound nearly as deep. And for some reason, there was a slight rasp in the words that shot a pleasant tingle down Weiss's spine.

It was at that moment that Ruby chose to stride in, silver eyes immediately landing on her.

Weiss felt her cheeks go warm, face nearly bursting with heat. The Ruby lookalike stared at her with a hint of a shy smile, running her hand through the crimson tipped hair. And for the second time in her life, Weiss felt her heart do somersaults, her breath leaving her so completely that her chest _literally_ ached. Well. That was new.

"I-I, you – Ruby?!" She squeaked.

The girl– no, _woman_ , shot Weiss a familiar dopey smile that made her go weak in the knees. She thanked dust that she was sitting down, folding in like a paper airplane wouldn't be of much help in this situation.

With one hand on her chest, Weiss registered the sudden spike in her heartbeat, feeling the rapid palpitations under her palm that was the result of being on the receiving end of that particular smile. Sufficed to say, the heiress was at a loss for words.

The familiar visage of Ruby she had expected was gone, replaced by a taller, more muscled form of her crimson haired partner. Black hair with red tips kissed the top of her shoulders, cheek bones now sharp angles due to the lack of baby fat and the woman stood – no – _towered_ over Weiss. The clothes she was wearing looked strangely foreign, and the missing red cape was what drew the heiress's attention away, cutting off her blatant ogling.

"Behold, Weissy," Yang swept her hand out dramatically, even pretending to hold a mic to her lips. "Feast your eyes on the Ruby of the _future_! Ta daaah!"

Blake rolled her eyes at the ridiculous introduction and shoved her partner out of the way. Yang was sent stumbling and the cat Faunus eyed Weiss with a cautious gleam in her eyes. Meanwhile, the older Ruby stood at the mouth of the doorway observing her partner – well, technically she was still her partner right? – with an amused quirk of her lips, feeling extremely flattered at the wide eyed, slack jawed reaction.

Weiss was definitely much shorter than she'd remembered. But that could be attributed to how tall she was now, so she brushed the thought aside and focused on the smaller details; like how the edge of Weiss's lips curled more downwards than up, the playful peppy air she was used to in the future replaced by a demure and self-conscious one. She still had a long way to go it seemed.

Ruby reflected that Weiss didn't change all that much in terms of appearance, but she couldn't help but find it endearing. Just another thing to tease her girlfriend about when she got sent back to the future. Whenever that was.

"Yang," Ruby chided playfully, cocking her hips. "That was the worse explanation I've ever heard."

"Er, are you forgetting the time uncle Qrow gave us the 'birds and the bees' talk?" Yang asked. She grinned when Ruby shivered at the memory, a disturbed look overcoming her.

"Okay I take that back." Ruby grimaced. She'd never quite seen her uncle in the same light again after that horrendous explanation. "Damn you for making me remember that." She hissed. "Remind me to hit the future you when I go back."

Yang shrugged, nudging her partner in the side. "Nailed it." Said the boxer, shooting her a wink. Blake smiled and replied with a nudge of her own.

Weiss looked back and forth between them, utterly confused by the turn of events. The only thing she had gleaned from that conversation was that this gorgeous woman was indeed Ruby, and that didn't help much considering that it wasn't logical for her partner to get a growth spurt between now and the last time Weiss had seen her.

As if hearing her thoughts, Ruby turned her attention back to Weiss, gracing her with cheeky smile.

"What Yang is trying to say, is that I'm Ruby. But not the Ruby that you know – I'm her from the future. There was this accident with dust, and _don't even_ ask because I don't know how it happened. And before you say that it's impossible,"

She held up her hand when the heiress looked increasingly sceptical as her explanation went on.

"Keep in mind that I'm standing right here. In any case, I'm sure that this would wear off by tomorrow or maybe even tonight, so until then I guess you're stuck with me." She winked.

Weiss coloured, ignoring the amused look Blake sent her way. Damn this ridiculously attractive version of her dolt of a partner. She didn't understand why her heart skipped a beat each time she set her eyes on Ruby. She was _straight_. She _liked_ Neptune.

Or at least, that was what she was telling herself. And even then, there were nagging doubts in the back of her mind.

"I-I see." The heiress nodded stiffly. "So what do you propose we do until then?"

Yang and Blake exchanged looks when they realised the question was directed to them as well. The cat Faunus chanced a look at the clock on their wall before straying over to her own desk to grab the books for her next lesson.

"Yang and I still have two classes left so you both can figure it out."

The blonde groaned. "We do?!"

"Yes, you're the one who signed us up for professor Port's extra credit classes, remember? Something about getting enough credits to pass." Blake said dully, gathering the books into her arms. As an afterthought, she grabbed her novel, knowing that the man was as interesting as watching paint dry. His stories might have been out of this world, but they tended to be the same ones rehashed with each lesson.

"Crap." Yang muttered. "Oh well. You two have fun! Make sure to take care of Ruby, you hear?"

"Hey." Ruby laughed. "I should be the one saying that. I'm the oldest here after all."

With that said, Ruby sauntered over to the heiress, and looped a slender arm around her shoulder. Weiss nearly jumped out of her skin at the contact, making the woman hide a sly smile behind her hand.

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you." Weiss huffed, trying not to shrug off Ruby's arm. The weight on her shoulders felt frighteningly comfortable, and it wouldn't take long for her to melt into the curve of Ruby's side.

And with that, Yang shot them one final grin before being dragged away by the impatient bow wearing girl. Now alone with the older version of her partner, Weiss broke out of the lazy grasp and pulled out of Ruby's arm, the corner of her lips tugging up when Ruby pouted, the action looking childish as it did cute.

"Weisssss!" The woman whined, eliciting a giggle from her. "Why did you pull away? I was just getting comfy too." She grumbled, folding her arms. Ruby noted with smugness that Weiss's discomfort around her had begun to melt away at her teasing, the two falling back into easy, familiar banter.

"I have to go change you dolt." Weiss scolded gently, taking out an identical version of her outfit. The stickiness was getting close to unbearable, and she wanted to change out of it before it got any worse. She didn't want to smell like a walking expresso either.

"Wait here. There's a lot of questions I want to ask you. And it seems that your knack for trouble didn't fade with time."

"Eh." Ruby shrugged, taking a seat at the desk. "I won't leave you so don't worry."

Weiss blushed at that innocent remark, rolling her eyes at her own reaction. There was really something wrong with her today, she concluded. And it was only early afternoon. Praying that she could survive the rest of day, Weiss turned on her heel and disappeared into the bathroom.

* * *

Ruby looked up from the papers with an affronted gasp, eyebrow arching at the indignant look on Weiss's face. Well someone certainly knew how to make an entrance. "What are you doing? Don't touch my stuff!" Weiss said crossly. Dumping her dirty clothes into the hamper near the bathroom, she strode over to Ruby with large steps.

For the most part, Ruby just rolled her eyes at the display of intimidation. She'd forgotten how touchy Weiss was about people going through her stuff. Before she could start a tirade on privacy and 'minding her own business' Ruby extended the piece of paper in her hands, a small smirk being her only reply.

Weiss halted, looking confused as she took the paper into her own hands. A look of disbelief crossed her face when she saw her previously neat answers crossed out by the pen she'd left on her desk. " _Ruby_!" She screeched. "What did you do?!"

"Calm down." Ruby soothed, placing a hand on her arm. "I was just correcting a few of your answers. I'm a full-fledged huntress now, I'm pretty confident that I know Grimm anatomy like the back of my hand at this point."

Weiss sputtered angrily. "But the textbook said that–"

"You mean this?" She held up the thick tome filled to the brim with markings and dog ears. "I'm not sure if you noticed, Weiss, that this is the third edition which dates back at least ten years ago. I know that it's one of the books Beacon recommends the students to read, but many things have changed since its publication."

Weiss stumbled, her anger fading in the face of logic.

Ruby smiled, the lack of reply encouraging her to continue. "Make sure you do check up on things like this. And if I remember correctly–" She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "You got a B on this paper."

As expected, the heiress paled at that remark and looked down at her paper once more.

Ruby stood from her seat, gently taking the paper out of her grasp. "You can do your fact checking later, Weiss." She assured. Lightly squeezing her arm, Ruby let a bright laugh spill forth from her lips and grabbed Weiss's hand, tugging her toward the door. The heiress gave a startled yelp, her introspection broken.

"Let's go for a walk!"

* * *

Ruby glanced about the school grounds with a small smile, cheerfully greeting anyone she recognized. They must have heard about the dust mishap, since they weren't all too surprised when they saw her. She dragged Weiss around Beacon, visiting all the spots they'd frequented as a team, and by herself.

Some part of Ruby knew that long, pleasant walks in Beacon were something she'd been dying to experience with Weiss. Their relationship in Beacon had taken a turn for the worst in the second year, due to the revelation of a particularly…sensitive secret she had kept from her. Namely, her feelings for her partner.

That was one of the worst fight's they'd ever had.

And one of the longest. Their relationship remained rocky until the fourth year, where team RWBY had a hand in bringing down one of the most nefarious plots in history. Everyone had come out battered and scarred, but were wiser because of it. Needless to say, Weiss and Ruby didn't waste any more time and had gotten together soon after everything had settled down.

Ruby shook her head. The two years following that fight were definitely the only ones that she'd didn't miss.

"Hey, watch it!" Weiss snapped, pulling the redhead just in time for her to avoid walking into a streetlamp. Ruby stumbled in surprise, the strong grip on her arm the only thing keeping her from falling flat on her keister. Weiss shook her head as she steadied the huntress.

"Whoa, sorry." Ruby laughed weakly, "I was taking a trip down memory lane. Guess I should have paid attention."

"Idiot." Weiss huffed, as she guided them towards Beacon's gardens. "You're lucky I was watching out for you." The heiress let go of her arm as they entered the gardens, both of them straying off the path, strolling into a large field filled with decently sized trees and a plethora of flowerbeds dotted around them.

"Yeah." Ruby smiled.

Weiss felt her heart jump at the look Ruby gave her, and opened her mouth to reply when something blonde came hurtling towards them.

"Heads up!" Sun yelled, springing forward to catch the Frisbee that was flying across the grassy field at a breakneck speed. Both girls made noises of shock and surprise, immediately ducking before they would get a disc to the mouth. They were very much attached to their teeth, thank you.

"You…you _ruffian_!" Weiss screeched, jabbing a well-manicured finger towards the Faunus boy, who grinned cheekily in response. His tail whipped about haphazardly as he smugly admired the neon pink Frisbee in his hands. The look changed into one of interest however, when he realised that there was someone other than Weiss who was staring daggers at him.

"Whoa," He whistled appreciatively, eyebrows rising. "Who's this ice queen?"

Weiss shook her head with an exasperated sigh just as Neptune shuffled up beside him with an interested look. Ruby noted that Weiss had straightened her back almost instantly at his appearance and inwardly sighed. She'd forgotten about the 'crush' the girl had had on him at this age. The memory of those days brought back a bitter taste in her mouth, and she wryly reflected that she was going to be put through the pain of seeing it again.

The redhead regard the two boys with her politest smiles. "Sup." Ruby greeted them amiably, tucking her hands into her pockets.

"What are you doing out here?" Weiss smiled, one hand playing with her pony tail.

"Sun wanted to play some frisbee." The blue haired boy shrugged, snatching said object out of Sun's hand. He tucked it under his arm and suddenly levelled a charming smile at Ruby, causing her eyebrows to rise in thinly veiled amusement.

"So," He drawled, "You must be new around here. I would have remembered someone as beautiful as yourself. Are you a close friend of Weiss?"

Sun chortled at the smooth delivery and pretended to gag, drawing several eye rolls from the girls. Neptune pursed his lips, slapping the Faunus on the arm. " _Dude_." He hissed.

Ruby felt rather gratified at the exchange between them, her mouth quirking up into a grin. Well, she'd never thought that _he_ of all people would hit on her. The phrase 'there's a first time for everything' rang true in this situation, whacky time travel included. But she knew she couldn't fault Neptune for his actions. The boy was a huge flirt, and her looks probably weren't helping either.

Ruby was no fool, she knew that she'd matured beautifully, both mentally and physically. But that didn't mean that she was the least bit interested in him though.

Meanwhile, Weiss glowered at the attention that was being showered on Ruby, her heels digging into the soft grass beneath them. Swallowing a sarcastic remark of which it took the entirety of her wit to create, the heiress smiled blandly.

"She's–"

"Someone you don't need to get to know." Ruby cut in abruptly, a wide, shit eating grin directed at the heiress. Using Weiss's surprise as leverage, she looped an arm around her waist and pulled the girl flush against her. As expected, Weiss turned a brilliant shade of red, choking when she felt Ruby's fingers drawing small circles on her hip bone. Neptune and Sun had been taken by surprise as well, the two stopping their squabbling to stare at Ruby.

"No hard feelings, but our preferences are the only thing we have in common." Ruby chuckled, her free hand forming a finger pistol – the redhead grinning cheekily at their expressions.

Sun laughed when Neptune's jaw flapped and elbowed the boy with a loud guffaw, shooting Ruby a thumbs up. "Nah, don't mind him." He said, eyes shining with mirth. "He's just dumb."

Ruby nodded in agreement, "Well, we gotta run. Stay safe kiddos!" She said, and threw Weiss over her shoulder with all the grace she could muster. Meaning, not a lot. The girl shrieked angrily and begun slapping the redhead's shoulders as she was carried away.

"Put me down this instant!" She screeched. " _Ruby rose_!"

As the pair disappeared into the distance, Neptune and Sun exchanged curious looks. 'Ruby?' They mouthed in confusion.

* * *

 **AN** : So I hope that this chapter lived up to the first one. This was wayyyy longer than I was aiming for, and it isn't even done yet. I'll be finishing the 'present' POV before moving on to the 'future' POV, where young Ruby meets with older Weiss. I'm personally very excited for those chapters :-) huehue. In any case, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Side A - Part 3

The cafeteria was abuzz with noise, students sweeping in and out at random intervals. Some decided to unwind with a nice warm dinner in their respective rooms while others decided to hunker down and enjoy the atmosphere of camaraderie that lit up all four corners of the cafeteria.

It was around seven thirty when the two met once more.

Ruby swivelled her head in response to the footsteps approaching her. "Hey Pyrrha." She greeted as the Amazonian girl stepped into place behind her, responding with a bright smile and a small wave.

Silver eyes flitted about. "Where's the rest of your team? I didn't think Nora or Jaune would skip dinner."

"They're rather engrossed in their board game." Pyrrha chuckled, lifting her hand to obscure the wide grin at those words. "Nora wanted to help Jaune 'stop sucking'. Her words, not mine. And Ren insisted on staying to keep them both out of trouble."

"That's Ren for you. Smart move." Ruby bopped her head, "So you're gonna get some food for them then?" She said and shuffled forward as the line continued to whittle. She caught a whiff of mushroom sauce and nearly sighed in relief. It looks like they had that item on their menu today.

"Maaan that smells great." She sighed.

Pyrrha nodded in agreement. "Oh I almost forgot to ask. How is your team taking with the whole–" she gestured aimlessly, "Time travel mess?" She finished, allowing herself to laugh when Ruby pouted.

"You just gestured to all of me." Said Ruby as she feigned annoyance. She swept her fringe back dramatically – earning more than a few wide eyed looks along with flapping jaws.

"They're taking it quite well I suppose? To be honest, I thought that they would have been more worried, what with me and the younger ruby switching places."

"Well, you did say that you were with Weiss before you disappeared." Pyrrha interjected, "And if anything, Weiss has proved herself to be more than reliable. I'm sure she's fine."

Pyrrha finished her sentence and glanced around, mildly surprised to see several people eyeing the redhead with obvious interest. It was a refreshing feeling to have all the attention off her for once, though she did feel bad that Ruby seemed to be garnering so much unwanted popularity.

Ruby suddenly grinned, folding her arms as the line moved once more.

"Oh I'm sure that she's more than fine with it." She cackled, garnering a confused look from Pyrrha. Ruby cleared her throat with an embarrassed cough, only realising that she must have seemed awfully creepy saying that. But if one looked closer, they would have caught a glimmer of amusement in those silver eyes.

A couple of short taps drew their attention, both girls turning their heads towards the source. The staff member stood behind the counter, raising a brow as he waited for them to finish their conversation. The line had certainly moved faster than Ruby expected.

"Hey look it's my turn. Can I get an extra _laaarge_ helping of that?" She pointed with a cheerful grin. "Ohh and maybe some of those too. Pack them separately please!"

Pyrrha's eyes widened when the man nodded and scooped a veritable mountain of the stuff and packed it into a container. "That's quite...a lot." She said lamely.

"The person I'm getting this for happens to like it. Like, she really _likes_ it." Ruby grinned. "You could even say that she has an obsession with it. One of those comfort foods y'know?"

"Well–" She grabbed the takeaway container before waving goodbye to the Amazonian. "See ya!" She yelled, the image of her blurring as she activated her semblance and sped off.

Pyrrha saw her off with a bemused expression. Who could possibly be such a huge fan of said food?

* * *

The door was flung open with a sickeningly sweet call of " _Weiss_!" and Ruby skipped into the room with nothing short of a Cheshire grin. "Look what I got for you!"

Silence.

Ruby groaned and tilted her head to the side in exasperation. Weiss was certainly taking the vow to ignore her very seriously. The heiress had her chin jutted in the air, posture poised yet threatening, exuding a menacing aura that scared even the battle hardened version of Ruby.

"C'mon," Ruby tried again. "I put you down when we reached the room didn't I? And I _promise_ that no one saw up your battle skirt when I was carrying you." Ruby huffed, carefully setting down the piping hot food near the sink. She grabbed one of those large oversized cups, which Yang had helpfully dubbed 'bowl-cup', before tipping its contents into said object. Ruby grinned as the mouth-watering scent spilled into air, causing the heiress to twitch.

Seconds gave way to minutes, and surely but slowly, Weiss turned, icy blue eyes widening as she realized what the delectable scent was. And before she could stop herself, she spoke.

"Are those...mashed potatoes?"

 _Gotcha_. Ruby giggled almost fiendishly as she dunked a silver spoon into the bowl-cup and sauntered over to the visibly shaken heiress.

"Yup." She said, popping her P's as she held out the bowl in front of her. The wide eyed stare that Weiss directed to the mashed potatoes was undoubtedly one of hunger, and Ruby made sure move the bowl back and forth to tempt the girl even more.

Weiss's inner foodie was certainly showing, and Ruby mentally cheered when Weiss pinned her with an exasperated look before throwing caution to the wind and reaching out for it. The redhead placed it in her hands with a smug smile.

"Enjoy." Ruby said, lowering her voice. She ruined the serious effect with a playful salute and a giggle, and the huntress trotted over to their bunk bed in satisfaction, leaving the heiress to revere her mashed potatoes – her ultimate comfort food. Weiss was so enamoured with it that she didn't question how Ruby knew this well-kept secret of hers.

"Ruby rose, you are a genius." She congratulated herself under her breath, chuckling when she pictured the look of happiness on Weiss's face as she pulled herself up to her bed.

Ruby winced when the ropes holding up the bed wheezed precariously, sinews tightening as they groaned. She fought not to make any sudden jerking movements. This bed wasn't supposed to fall until the younger her was a fourth year, but Ruby decided that testing the will of the gods was the last thing she wanted to do.

 _This thing is smaller than I remembered_ , Ruby noted as she lay flat on her back – staring up at the makeshift tarp tied to the bed posters. She grinned when she spotted the stain in the cloth, much like a splash of colour on a beige canvas, an accidental result trying to drink chocolate milk and do her homework at the same time. It had been one of the more frustrating essays, she remembered with a wry twist of her lips, and she'd been too lazy to clean take it down for a thorough wash. Yang was right when accused her of being a slob outside of caring for her sniper rifle.

Ruby shifted when she felt several bullet cases digging into her back and sat up slowly.

And then it hit her. The memory faded away as soon as it came, but Ruby went into action, obeying her motor functions, her hand slipping under the mattress. Knuckles rubbed against the wood bedframe as she groped around, trying to remember where she had stuck the diary.

"There you are." She smiled triumphantly when her fingertips brushed against the spine of the notebook.

After some hand acrobatics and arm stretching, the cover of the faux leather of her diary smiled up at the older version of its owner. Ruby felt a wave of nostalgia crash over her as gently thumbed the cover. If she was any other person, Ruby might've felt guilty for prying into someone's private musings.

But since that someone was Ruby, and she was merely the older version of that someone, she flipped the notebook open with nary a blink.

Ruby smiled as she skimmed through all of her old diary entries. The first time uncle Qrow let her see his Scythe. The completion of Crescent Rose. Helping Yang to build the 'awesomest weapon ever'. When headmaster Ozpin had invited her to join Beacon. The day after the initiation. The food fight and the horrible laundry day after.

The entries went on and on, the crashing waves of nostalgia slamming into her with each entry her eyes skimmed over. The latest entry had a date messily scribbled at the top, and she noted that it was yesterday's date.

But the next diary entry would be written faster than anticipated, since she was fairly sure that the younger Ruby would definitely have something to write about when she got back.

With a small yawn, silver eyes flitted across the familiar script, her eyebrows rising with each paragraph she consumed. Well. This was certainly…enlightening.

' _-was the best lunch ever!_

 _I dont have any lessons tomorrow, so I can spend the whole day cleaning up Crescent Rose. How awesome is that?_

 _Hehe, Im glad I didn't listen to Yang and sign up for Professor Port's extra lessons, I dont want to be stuck in a room with him for more than two hours -_- if I hear about how he wrestled with an Ursa one more time…ugh. No thnks!_

 _So yep today was great but…Im gonna have to talk about something more srs.'_

Ruby threw her head back and groaned. This shorthand was frightening. No wonder Weiss threw a fit whenever she borrowed her notes.

' _Ive been having some weird thoughts lately. Like,_ _weird._

 _I keep think about how Weiss's skin looks so soft. That's definitely weird. :/ Not only that, but I keep staring at her too. I mean, she's my partner so I always look for her whenever we go to class, but recently it's like I can't stop staring at her?_

 _And when she sees me and smiles back, my heart sorta jumps?_

 _Idk, I dont think Im sick or anything. When I tried asking Blake about this heart thing, she got this weird look on her face and started talking about flags. She kept talking about flags so I got too nervous and accidently told her that it happens when I look at Weiss._

 _And then she said that I liked Weiss. Im not sure what that meant at first, cuz I like everyone. Then she said that it wasn't that sort of like. But_ _ **like like**_ _._

 _Im kinda freaking out._

 _Ok I feel bad about writing that. I mean, it's not that Im freaking out because I like a girl. Their pretty and smell nice, so idc about that. But it's Weiss. Weiss! Also, Im pretty sure she likes Neptune already :(_

 _So yeah. I…like Weiss. Is it bad that I wished I didn't? I know she'll never like me back…'_

Ruby felt a pang of sympathy. Her younger self couldn't know that she and Weiss would end up dating in the future. And making her aware of that fact by writing it in this diary for example, felt like cheating. It also stood to reason that doing so might change the outcome of events as well. Not that she thought it would, but it was better to be safe than sorry. She shivered. That was a frightening thought.

Weiss – the future Weiss – would try not to reveal that fact as well. At least…that was what she _hoped_ Weiss would do. Contrary to popular belief, Weiss Schnee could be unpredictable when she wanted to. Hell, she could be anything if she wanted to.

Ruby fished out a pen from somewhere under the covers and scribbled a quick note. Shutting the diary with a soft snap, she tucked it back into its hidey hole under the bed and made to get down when disaster struck.

The bed was suddenly jerked violently to the left, sending the woman sprawling. Punctuating her surprise with a loud yell, she felt her heart rise to her throat when she realised that she was teetering on the edge of the bed. One wrong move would send her hurtling to the floor via gravity, and she knew from experience that falling from this height was going to _hurt_.

And as if the universe heard her plea, it promptly decided to do the exact opposite of what she wished, and one of the remaining three ropes was pulled apart like its kin – the sudden jerk sending Ruby over the edge. Instinct took over, and she shielded her face with her arms and braced for impact.

And hit something she did, not more than one second later. The strangeness of it ate at her, because she couldn't have reached the floor _that_ quickly. Stunned, she put her arms down and found herself lying on her side – staring directly into the face of one worried Weiss Schnee. She looked down. The white glyph shimmered prettily and pulsed under her gaze.

She winced. Any moment now–

"You _dolt_!"

Her tone was sharp, and her words even more so. Her expression was absolutely thunderous, and the sight of it sent chills down Ruby's spine. Her stomach bottomed out when Weiss took one threatening step forward, a dainty finger mere inches from her face.

"What were you thinking? That thing is just a death-trap waiting to happen, and you still climbed into it, it could barely hold your younger self's weight as it was. Why are the both of you so utterly foolish?!" Weiss scolded harshly.

Ruby shrank back and listened to her rant with a meek expression, intent on surviving this storm. She had forgotten how scary the girl could be when she was pissed off, and if she had the chance, she would have taken off like a bat out of hell.

Ruby sat through five agonizing minutes of colourful swear words and threats of never being allowed to go anywhere alone if she wasn't going to be more careful, not daring to interrupt the emotionally charged rant. Hell hath no wrath like a Schnee angry.

* * *

They ended up taking down the bed. Both of them agreed that leaving it hanging was far too precarious for their liking, and Ruby certainly didn't want Weiss to be flattened like a bug on a windshield if it did drop. With the help of Blake, who had interrupted Weiss when she entered the room with a sleepy-eyed Yang, they managed to leave the bed in the corner of their room by prepping it up on two of the four legs, with the back of the wooden frame facing the wall.

It was a sorry sight, but everyone decided that it was better than having an accident in the wee hours of the night.

The rest of the evening passed with no other events of note, aside from the WBY of RWBY trying to glean some information about their future selves from the twenty three year old Ruby. To her credit, she managed to stave off the questions on future events with the claim that it could possibly have some negative repercussions, but, she couldn't avoid answering the questions about the 'future' members of team RWBY.

Yang did a small jig, a large grin pulling at the edges of her lips. "Did you guys hear that? I'm famous! I totally called it." She crowed, nudging Blake in the side. Blake rolled her eyes and merely patted the girl on her arm.

Weiss smiled a little at the short description Ruby had given her. Her future-self sounded happy, and laid back even. The only upsetting thing about what Ruby had told her was the part about Myrtenaster breaking. She frowned. She would have to ask her partner to take a look at the weapon when she came back.

"…That is certainly surprising." Blake voiced, folding her arms. "So I became an author?"

"Yep. I mean, you still go with us on missions and stuff but you're better known for your writing." Ruby said, grinning at the cat Faunus. "There _is_ questionable content in some of your books though."

Blake coloured at the knowing look Ruby shot her. Her eyes immediately flickered towards her favourite novel hidden safely between the hulking anthology on Grimm and the slightly smaller sized textbook, Dust: History and its uses.

"Hey! Is no one gonna talk about the fact that I'm famous?" Yang butted in, pouting. Weiss snorted and shook her head.

"Famous? More like infamous." She complained. "I can't believe anyone would like those puns."

Yang tilted her head to glance at the heiress, confidence oozing off her like water off a duck's back. Weiss eyed her suspiciously, hips twisting into a semblance of a frown. The blonde smirked. "Aw c'mon, don't be so cold." She cooed.

Ruby cackled when the heiress lunged at her sister, and only pulled the smaller girl off when she threatened to shave Yang bald and string her up by her toes. And so the night ended in this manner, with the heiress almost triggering Yang's protective instincts for her hair and Blake firing off questions, the Faunus keen to learn what topics her books had been on.

She made a pleased purring noise when Ruby notified her that at least a third of her written works were on Fauna related rights, and those books in question had made quite the ripples indeed.

Everyone quickly got ready for bed, seeing as they had spent more than a few hours talking. But with bedtime came their current predicament.

"No." Weiss refused flatly.

"Don't be that way Weiss!" Yang groaned, running a hand through her hair. Behind her, Ruby made a strikingly familiar puppy dog expression to that of her younger self, getting a few sputters out of the heiress. Her resolve wavered, but continued to hold its ground. Seeing the stubborn expression harden, Blake patted Ruby's shoulder in mock sympathy, shaking her head to emphasize what a lost cause her plea was.

"It's just for one night." Ruby pushed, scrunching her nose cutely. "Pleaseeee!"

"Absolutely, positively, not." Weiss stomped her foot. "And need I remind you to act your age. Yang, she's your sister. What's wrong with her sharing your bed?" She said, and threw her hands up at the absurdity of the situation.

How had things come to this?! She should have offered to pay for a hotel room or something, _anything_ to avoid that particularly embarrassing situation from happening.

"Okay first off princess," Yang held up her hand, effectively cutting her off. "We won't be able to fit into that tiny ass bed. And I sure as hell, am not going be pressed against the wall for the entire night."

She huffed and pointed toward the heiress's bed. "And secondly, you're the only one who's small enough to sleep with Ruby!"

Ruby grinned at the innuendo. Intentional or not, she couldn't help but add in two cents of her own.

"We could do more than that if you want." She offered, waggling her eyebrows. "I'm open to suggestions."

Weiss squawked, the flush on her face steadily increasing in intensity. Words caught in her throat, she let out a gurgle borne of utter shock. Blake looked away, the bow on her head shaking slightly, while Yang roared with laughter and slapped her knees.

"I–I…you," Weiss sputtered with embarrassment. And finally, the heiress gave up all hope of stringing together a coherent sentence and growled gutturally, flipping the bird at all three of her laugh stricken teammates. "Forget it! Just– sleep! _Now_." She snapped and flung herself under the covers of her bed.

Ruby shot both of them a thumbs up before slipping under the covers beside Weiss. She was careful at maintaining at least a bit of distance between them though. There was a line between being a tease, and making someone truly uncomfortable. Ruby would not cross that line.

"I'm killing the lights." Blake called, with one hand on the switch. A chorus of goodnights rang out and the room was plunged into darkness.

* * *

The sound of Ruby's breathing, coupled with her surprisingly warm body temperature left Weiss squirming in her position, worried that any movements would result in touching…places.

She swallowed. Well she had to get to sleep somehow. Biting her lip and trying to block out the soft sounds of Ruby's breathing, she clenched her fists and tucked her head between her arms, intent on getting some shut eye.

"That can't be comfortable."

Ruby whispered, sending a shiver down her spine. Weiss barely suppressed a squeak of surprise, the atmosphere suddenly spiking in temperature. Her heart beat tripled, and the rapid _thump_ of the organ was so intense that it made her breath scatter.

"Don't do that!" She hissed. "I nearly had a heart attack."

"Sorry." Ruby inclined her head meekly, the pillow shifting. Weiss swallowed once more when she felt the studying gaze, and merely continued lying stiffly in her previous position. She was going to get some sleep even if it killed her dammit!

"You can relax. I'm not taking up that much space, see?" The redhead shifted her body to allow the girl a slightly larger breathing space. Weiss responded with a mere grunt, not turning to face her soft declaration. Ruby sighed at her stubbornness.

"Weiss. Just relax. I won't bite. Promise." She soothed, placing a gentle hand on the heiress's shoulder.

Weiss nearly leaped at the touch, the warmth of the hand disrupting the biorhythms that made her body naturally cool to the touch. She wanted to say something particularly insulting, or perhaps even biting, but she restrained herself. Ruby had been sincere, and true to her words, so there was no reason to doubt her.

She shifted her body backwards cautiously. As the redhead had told her, there was a fairly generous amount of space made for her.

But even so, the two of them were still rather close. The bed was only so large, and there was only a small amount of space between them. There was something tempting about their positions. Weiss felt something spark within her.

Sighing at her own jumpiness and discomfort, she took in a deep, nerve cleansing breath before relaxing completely. Now, it was Ruby's turn to nearly jump in surprise when Weiss scooted closer to her, the normally stiff and upright back melting into the curve of her body. The sharp scent of expensive shampoo tickled her senses, and she recognized it as the one the future Weiss normally used.

Ruby tried to regain control of her heartbeat, willing it to settle down since the heiress would undoubtedly be able to feel the quickness of its beats from their close proximity – their bodies only separated by two thin layers of clothing.

To any observer, their positions would have been nothing short of sexual, but to Ruby and Weiss themselves, it was an inexplicably calm feeling. Like the gentle caress of a breeze and the kiss of a raindrop.

Ruby opened her mouth to comment on their situation, but decided against it. Faint flashes of memory seized her once more, and she was whisked back to rare, but gratifying occasions where Weiss let some of her mask slip and showed the real her underneath. This was her raw form, like the chrysalis in a cocoon, tangible yet ethereal. There was something fragile about her, Ruby noted as she gently cradled the girl, her arm resting gently on Weiss's hip.

An amused smile made its way to her lips when she realised that she was the big spoon again, and marvelled at the familiarity of the situation. The longing in her gut rumbled strongly at her thoughts. She missed her Weiss.

The heiress's breathing had evened out, the girl sleeping soundly in the protective embrace. Ruby eventually drifted off as well, the last thing she saw being the gentle curve of her bare shoulder.

* * *

 **A/N** : I know I'm late, but I have a good reason! I was playing Steins;Gate and HOLY CRAP was it good. I completed all the endings, and I still want to replay the true ending one more time ;_; There hasn't been a game that made me feel this excited since Persona 3, the portable ver.

Okay, so this is the ending to ' _Side A_ ' meaning Older Ruby and young Weiss. The next chapter will be younger Ruby and Older Weiss, which is ' _Side B_ '. This chapter ended up wayyyy longer than I expected but that's good I think! The mashed potatoes was just something I found funny, because I feel that some of Weiss's favourite foods would be the complete opposite of her character. Just a personal HC if you will!

And also, the flags which Ruby was talking about in her diary? Blake thought that a romance flagged had been trigger LOL :') and before you point out all the punctuation mistakes in the diary entry, yes, they were intentional. That was really fun to write, when I read it over I almost thought as if Ruby had written it.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading :D


	4. Side B - Part 1

It was a not so normal day at the Schnee-Rose residence.

Weiss stole another look at the sleeping girl and sighed. Ruby lay peacefully on the bed propped up by several pillows, her head lolled to the side with a hint of drool at the corner of her mouth. The trademark combat outfit she usually wore had been traded for an oversized beige coloured tee which reached above her knees, and since Weiss couldn't find a pair of pants that Ruby wouldn't end up swimming in, she'd left it at that and prayed that the redhead wouldn't be too freaked out when she woke up.

Weiss Schnee, head of the Schnee Dust Company, fidgeted nervously as her gaze flitted back to the scroll in her hands. She bit her lip in frustration. Neither Blake nor Yang were returning her calls, and her messages didn't garner any sort of reply either.

She was ready to tear her hair out at this point. Even a simple ' _K_ ' would be enough to set her heart at ease.

"What in the world is going on?" She said to herself, shaking her head. Her hands twitched when her gaze fluttered over Ruby's sleeping form once more, the urge to run her fingers through the red tinted hair growing stronger with each minute. Weiss couldn't help it! She'd forgotten how…vulnerable and sinfully adorable her girlfriend had looked at the age of fifteen.

That thought made Weiss's head spin. Somehow, through a series of impossible occurrences, the Ruby of twenty three had been replaced with the Ruby of fifteen.

The events which occurred this morning were still weighing on her mind, and were to be blamed for leaving her nerves in a state of shambles.

First, she'd accidentally kicked Ruby – the older one of course – off the bed when the woman tried to shake her awake. In Weiss's defence, they had quite the intense lovemaking session the night before, so was it so unfair that she wanted to get a little more shuteye? It didn't help that she had a very important meeting in the afternoon either.

Then, _it_ happened. Her girlfriend had fallen off their bed with a loud yelp. Weiss didn't really panic…until she exploded in a brilliant flash of red.

Thinking that Ruby had ended up crushing, or hitting a dust crystal of some sort since she had the bad habit of leaving those things around, Weiss quickly scrambled toward her, a scream lodged in her throat. Even if Ruby was a powerful huntress, a person's aura could only protect them so much. To her utter shock however, it wasn't her girlfriend that stared up at her when the smoke disappeared.

The girl had covered her mouth to muffle several coughs, and looked up.

Silver eyes met blue ones.

A younger version of Ruby Rose had stared up at her. Or more accurately, she stared at the expensive set of tight fitting lingerie that Weiss had worn to tease Ruby with the night before. The girl turned at least five different shades of red, each one darker than the last, before Weiss took a step forward to make sure that it wasn't a dream.

Sufficed to say, the last thing she had heard was a high pitched squeak that could have shattered glass, before Ruby's head hit the liquored floor, eyes rolling into the back of her head. This left Weiss to gawp at the unconscious girl for a total of five minutes before flying into a confused panic. The first thing she did was to change Ruby out of her clothes. The girl was covered from tip to toe with dust, and Weiss feared that they would somehow trigger another explosion.

After that was done, she'd left Ruby to rest on her– their? –bed and quickly sent out messages to the rest of team RWBY.

Weiss scowled when her scroll _finally_ vibrated. Glowering at the object, she opened up the message with a flick of her finger, glancing at Yang's name at the top of the screen.

' _Wassup? I'm kinda busy rn, did yu need something?'_ The message read, and Weiss could almost imagine Yang tilting her head and giving her that annoying grin of hers.

Her fingers flew urgently over the keyboard.

' _This is no time for jokes. Ruby is fifteen again! Get your butt over here, and try to get in contact with Blake.'_

' _Wat?! Wat's that supposed to mean? Are yu guys doing that roleplay crap again?'_

She resisted the urge to face palm. There was no time for this nonsense, and besides, that was just one time! Lifting up her scroll, she directed the camera at Ruby's sleeping form and snapped a picture. Attaching it to her next message, Weiss bit her lip as the words 'Message Sent' was displayed, and waited for the blonde's reply. She didn't have to wait long for a reaction.

 **Video call from: Yang Xiao Long**

Weiss pressed accept and the blonde's face soon occupied a large portion of the screen. The image was grainy, but clear enough for her to make out Yang's surroundings. It looked to be a bar of some sort, and she came to the conclusion that Yang was spreading her malignant puns at some bar in Vale. Again. She never seemed to tire of bar hopping even after particularly tiring back to back missions.

"What the hell is going on, Weiss?!" Yang yelled at the screen. "Who's that chick in your bed?"

Weiss rolled her eyes and pinched her temples. "Didn't you reply the messages I sent you? That's Ruby you moron!" She hissed.

"Last I checked, Ruby wasn't a goddamn midget!"

"The fifteen year old version of her you fool." Weiss groaned. "Everything is the same, down to the very last hair. Here, I'll show you–" The woman strode over to the bed and held the scroll above Ruby's face. The girl continued sleeping peacefully, letting out an occasional mutter that sounded suspiciously like 'strawberries'.

On the other line, Yang felt her jaw drop. She would recognize that face, she'd spent years staring at it after all.

"Holy shit." She whistled, amazed. "It really _is_ her."

"That's what I said. Now are you going to help or not?" Weiss snapped. "I'm not sure what I should even do. Is something like this even possible?"

Yang chuckled weakly. "Woah hold up Weissy, let's save the theories till Blake and I get there alright? I think I know where she is."

"That would save me from tracking her down then." Weiss sighed, shaking her head. "If anything, she knows how to disappear when she wants to."

"Don't worry, Blake and I will be back soon. Try to keep Ruby occupied if she wakes up! Chao." Yang waved before the call disconnected, leaving her to stare at her own reflection. Running her hand through her hair in slight frustration, she checked the time and groaned. It was nearly one pm and her meeting was in three hours. Resolving to make the most of the time left, Weiss decided to get ready.

She doubted she would have time to do so if Ruby suddenly woke up, it would be in her best interests to do it now. With that thought in mind, Weiss looked over the sleeping figure one last time before heading towards the bathroom.

* * *

"You're still asleep?" Weiss muttered, eying the bed when she stepped out of the shower, smelling of fresh mint and lavender. Letting out a quiet groan when she noted that her scroll had no new messages, she gently ran a comb through her hair to tame the unruly mess that'd been caused by the hot shower. When Ruby let out a particularly nasally snore, Weiss paused in her ministrations – her hand setting down the comb and hovering over a scrunchie.

Her eyes flitted over to the slumbering girl. She took in the pinched expression, framed by crimson tipped hair, and one side of her mouth lifted into a smile before she made her decision to tie her hair up. Weiss reminisced that she hadn't done it up this way since graduation. Her Ruby had expressed how gorgeous she looked with her hair down, and she'd left it that way since. It wouldn't hurt to make an exception every once in a while, thought Weiss as she spun the band around her ponytail.

Startled when she saw her reflection, Weiss mused that this was what Winter would have looked like had she not favoured the long fringe and bun.

Making sure her hair was neat, her hand dipped down – stretching the starched collar of her top with dainty fingers. She also patted down any visible wrinkles and smoothed out her skirt, her smile shifting into a pleased grin. She gave her reflection a once over, chest puffed out proudly, before turning her attention back to the fifteen year old girl.

The woman strode over to the large bed, tentatively sitting down on the edge of the mattress. Tenderness welled up in her as she took in the visage of the slumbering girl, the afternoon light trickling in from the open windows, hitting Ruby at _just_ the right angle that made her seem like she was glowing.

It was almost as if time had stopped, and Weiss imagined the hands of the clock flying backwards at a breakneck pace, undoing everything that had been done until it was just the two of them again – young and happy, naïve in their innocence and ignorant of what the world expected of them. That thought made her eyebrows knit in a frown. It had brought up several…unpleasant memories that she was keen on forgetting.

Letting the tension bleed out of her like ice under the sun, Weiss scooted closer to Ruby, careful to put a slight distance between them since she was unsure of how her young partner would react when she finally awoke. Stretching languidly, she let her legs rest on atop the other and reached for the book by her beside, aware of the adorable snores coming from her left.

For the first time that day, Weiss felt lips stretch to accommodate a relaxed smile. It was times like this that her pragmatism wavered. So, instead of fussing over the meeting that was due in three hours, the woman leaned against the headboard of the bed and begun to read.

* * *

Ruby smiled groggily and buried her head deeper into the fluffiest pillows she'd ever had the pleasure of sleeping on. The fingers running through her hair, they were gentle and calming strokes, also contributed to her satisfied state. Ruby thought that this was what Zwei felt like when he was petted. The thought soon slipped away however, when she heard a remarkable voice that reminded her of sprawling meadows and wind chimes.

'… _yet I know it's true, that visions are seldom all they seem. But if I know you, I know what you'll do,'_

Ruby stirred as the pitch rose, the sleep chased away by the warmth that the voice provided her.

' _You'll love me at once, the way you did once, upon a dream.'_

Eyelids blinked repeatedly, and she found herself quietly humming along to the song as her vision slowly cleared. She belatedly recognised it as one of her favourite movie songs and felt her chest vibrating with her own hums.

' _But if I know you, I know what you'll do…you'll love me at once–'_

"The way you did once…upon a dream." Ruby finished, her own voice rising to join in. She only caught herself when song tapered off, and the room was plunged into silence. Sitting up quickly, she came face to face with a sight that made her heart rise to her throat.

"You always did love that song." Weiss said, smiling with amusement. "Why am I not surprised that you woke up just to sing it?"

Weiss couldn't hide her blush at the fact that Ruby had completed the song, like the prince and the princess had did in the movies. It seemed that at no matter what age, Ruby Rose was still capable of rendering her speechless.

Ruby did a double take at those words. "W-Weiss?" She squeaked.

Weiss smirked, levelling her with a look that would have made lesser men and woman melt in an instant. A feeling of warmth spread through her when he name had been called. She was…such a sap.

"The one and only."

Weiss would have said more, and she _definitely_ wanted to – but Ruby suddenly doubled over into her lap with a loud groan.

"Ruby?!" Weiss sat up instantly, alarmed.

"Sowee." Ruby answered, her words muffled. Face down on Weiss's skirt, the redhead was thankful for the gentle hand on her back when a wave of dizziness hit her. She groaned, and let a hand drift up to clutch the side of her head.

Memories were beginning to resurface and she found herself appalled at the utter ridiculousness of it. There had been that accident with dust, followed by the feeling of being stretched and then forced into a tiny hole. She remembered landing bottom first on the ground, but mostly, she just remembered looking up and staring at–

Ruby blushed. She was _sure_ that the tips of her ears were now a brilliant shade of red. The semi-naked image of a woman whom she now recognised as Weiss had made itself known, and she could hear the heavy thumps of her heart pounding in her ears.

She recalled how the light seemed to refract off Weiss's skin, the milky white thighs, and the generous curves of her well-toned body. That sight certainly hadn't helped her ever growing crush.

Along with that pleasant memory however, Ruby recalled that the shock of seeing such a gorgeous specimen up front and personal had been enough to knock her out, and she prayed that Weiss steadfastly ignore what happened. Speaking of Weiss…

She swallowed, now hyper aware of the fact that she was face down, in her lap. In her house. On her _bed_.

"Oh hell." She whispered.

* * *

 **A/N** : This chapter did not end up like how I expected. It was pretty hard to write and it ended up SO CHEESY lol – I blame that on the fact I was watching a sleeping beauty documentary. And also, my apologies for the late update ;_; I thought it was a good idea to play Dishonoured. Again.

Well, I hope y'all enjoyed it! A big and heartfelt _thank you_ to everyone who read, faved, followed and reviewed this story! Everyone seems to be craving for some whiterose fluff :3 not that I'm surprised what with the depressing as hell plot twists that RWBY has been giving us lately. I mean, I like angst. But still, my feels have taken quite the beating ;.;


	5. Side B - Part 2

"How old are you?"

"Twenty five."

Ruby grinned. "Are we, y'know…still partners?"

"Unfortunately." Weiss deadpanned, her mouth forming a thin line. Behind the cool façade however, she was internally bursting with coos and squeals of delight. Perhaps the sharp words were slung on a reflex, honed by years and years of banter with her partner that drew out such a reply. But upon seeing Ruby's crestfallen expression, the woman let out a puff of laughter and poked her cheek playfully.

"I was just joking."

At those words, Ruby looked up with a small pout. The sight was enough to make Weiss mumble how cute the girl was under her breath.

Ruby was too _adorable_ and every little thing she did was tugging at Weiss's heartstrings.

It was no secret that Weiss held a soft spot for Ruby. In fact, it had only grown when they'd gotten together; morphing into an unparalled affection that (in her opinion) could put anyone else's to shame. Weiss had fully learned to appreciate her partner's numerous quirks and loved her more for it. But back to the point; if Ruby didn't stop pouting, it wouldn't be long before Weiss swept the girl into her arms and cuddled her into oblivion.

Ruby harrumphed and rolled away from woman in a rather dramatic fashion. "You're _old_!" She shot back in retaliation, not knowing what else to say. She sighed internally. Insults had never been her forte. Yang was the one who could make people bristle in indignation with her creative swears.

That action proved to be her undoing, because the older Schnee decided to embrace her mischievous streak and followed up by pouncing on the younger girl, tickling her mercilessly.

Unprepared for the assault, Ruby flopped about like a fish out of water as she tried to press herself into the mattress to avoid the prodding fingers. The bedroom was filled with chuckles and gasps of a different kind – unlike the usual sounds they were graced with.

Wheezing and giggling when the hands tickled sides, Ruby pleaded for mercy as Weiss continued attacking all her weak spots left a shivering sack of flesh. Weiss had her pinned to the bed, smiling down at Ruby like how a cat would when they spotted a particularly juicy rat.

"It's nice to be on top for once." Weiss commented, preening at her victory. A beat of silence passed and she decided that Ruby was punished enough. Getting off the younger girl, she made her way across the room and came to a stop in front of the dresser. Grabbing her scroll, Weiss sent several quick texts to Blake and Yang, asking them if they were anywhere closer to getting here. Once again, the lack of replies made her roll her eyes. Honestly, she fumed. What use was a scroll if they didn't check them?

Ruby continued lying on the overly padded bed. Having recovered from the tickle attack, her relaxed state of mind allowed her to marvel at the turn of events.

Weiss had…tickled her. Now that was a first. The sound of her joyful laughter was still ringing in Ruby's ears, and it sent a jolt of warmth through her at the realization that Weiss had sounded happy. At ease. Free. From the time she'd spent here so far, Ruby had surmised that this Weiss was nothing like the caged version of her younger self.

Ruby was many things, but a fool was not one of them. She would have to be blind, or have her head buried six feet underground to miss the lingering shadows behind her (younger) partner's eyes. They didn't surface often, but she managed to pin point what triggered Weiss to go into one of her 'brooding' moods. Her father's calls were one such trigger.

The redhead would sometimes catch the heiress staring into the distance after a long call – normally sharp eyes unseeing – like she was purposely trying to distance herself from anything and everything. Of course, whenever Ruby saw her moping around, she hadn't stood for it and would purposely do something stupid to invoke Weiss's wrath, thereby snapping her out of whatever trance she'd been in.

The sight of Weiss, who was now smiling wistfully at the scroll in her hands, filled Ruby with a happiness and _relief_ unlike any other. She was glad. So very _very_ glad.

"I think that Yang and Blake will be here soon." Weiss quipped as she set the scroll down with a soft thunk. She gave Ruby a once over, her lips quirking up into a sly smile. "In the meantime, would you like to see where you keep Crescent Rose?"

Ruby's shrill scream of delight let her know that yes, she would like that very much. And so, once Weiss had dressed the younger girl in a slightly more appropriate attire (she managed to dig out one of her combat skirts from her days at Beacon) and exchanged her oversized shirt for one of the smaller ones, she escorted the overly excited redhead toward their destination.

The garage resembled that of secret spy workshops frequently shown in espionage movies. The walls had a classy black sheen, and the silent whirr of several air conditioners hung overhead had Ruby vibrating in excitement.

She skipped through the archway of the door with her heart in her throat. It was truly the stuff of dreams!

From what she could tell, this place was probably hers – judging by the empty packets of cookies littered around the vicinity and the industrial sized refrigerator sitting snugly between a bench and a bookshelf.

Ruby squealed. It was her very own super awesome, high tech hideout! She could recognize some of the machinery stationed around, since they looked vastly similar to the ones she'd used at Beacon or Signal. The smell of various dust crystals also caught her attention.

"Wow." She whistled appreciatively at the rows of purified dust sitting neatly on the shelf. Weiss gave her a look which clearly said 'no touching' so she reluctantly stayed away from that section of the overly large workshop.

Making her way further into the place, Ruby couldn't help but rake her eyes over the various blueprints of different weapons stuck to a large portion of the walls. Ember Cilica, Gambol shroud, Milo and Akuo. Those were some of the names she read off the blueprints.

"I can't believe this." Ruby shook her head in disbelief, admiring the meticulous drawings and the notes scribbled into the margins. She'd recognized her awful shorthand and couldn't help but feel a surge of pride. "I got to upgrade all of them?! _Ohmigosh_!"

Weiss smiled at Ruby's enthusiasm. She'd certainly remained true to her personality, the woman mused.

"Actually, the ones over there are on your 'to-do' list. The ones that you've built from scratch or finished upgrading are over there." She pointed to a neat stack of papers sitting innocently on a desk. "I helped with some of those." Weiss finished with a hint of pride in her voice.

The Schnee reached out to grab the redhead's collar when she tried to dive towards said blueprints.

"I don't think you should look at them." Weiss warned, a slight furrow in her brow.

"Aw, why not?"

"Some things are just best experienced first-hand, Ruby. You'll get to make those one day so don't worry. Now come along, Crescent Rose is this way."

Weiss threaded her fingers with Ruby's, pulling her away from what her girlfriend had dubbed 'the planning area'. The redhead was disappointed that she couldn't see the things her future self-had created (though she knew they would be pretty awesome) but Weiss's calloused hands soon chased those feelings away, replacing them with a shyness and subtle affection.

Weiss hid her smile and guided her young charge past the fancy machinery, whose names she could never remember despite the fact that she was the one who'd purchased them,. She stopped in front of an inconspicuous door that would have been easily overlooked by most people. But since she had it built, it was a given that she would know where it was.

The older Ruby had wanted a small containment unit built into the wall of the workshop specifically to house their weapons. She'd gotten this idea when the pair had just moved into the newly built Schnee mansion. Weiss had declined to do so since she preferred keeping Myrtenaster in their bedroom, or on hand at all times, so the idea was discarded and forgotten by both parties. At least, until a few months later.

In the end, Weiss got one built for Ruby's birthday. Since Ruby refused to accept gifts like diamond necklaces or her own personal bullhead (the look of horror she'd given Weiss was enough to scrap that idea) the CEO of the Schnee dust company decided to go with that idea instead. Though she might have went a tad overboard by making the compartment a little too big, resembling a room more than a weapon storage unit.

Not that Ruby had cared. She was just ecstatic at the extra leg space, since it allowed her to clean and polish her _darling_ in privacy.

Ruby stared at the small box embedded in the wall beside the door. It was the same shade of black as the walls, with a faint silver outline. The material inside the square was significantly different than the wall it was embedded in, and she could see part of her reflection in its glossy surface.

"Um…" The redhead shifted from foot to foot. "Open sesame?"

Weiss let out a snort of surprise. "Use your finger, Ruby."

"My…finger?" Ruby responded, her brows narrowing in confusion. She held up one finger and twirled it in a circle. "Open sesame." She said, her words slightly more confident. When the door remained showed no signs of opening, she continued staring at the glossy black surface, at a loss. That is, until a hand gently grasped her wrist. Ruby jumped and looked up at Weiss in surprise.

"Hold it up." The woman gestured toward her finger with her chin. Gently, Weiss guided her hand towards the box. Confusion melted into understanding when the pad of her finger touched the glossy surface, the small box lighting up momentarily like she'd just pressed an elevator button. There was a tiny click and a gush of air before the door slid open. Ruby's mouth made an 'O' shape.

"So that's what it was!" She grinned. "Awesome."

Weiss shook her head affectionately "Dolt." She said, rapping her knuckles lightly on the younger girl's head. "Go on." She urged Ruby forward. "It's only big enough for one person."

Ruby floundered for a moment, looking between the open door and the woman.

"Don't worry, it's not _that_ big." Weiss joked. "Now go. Crescent Rose is tired waiting." Those words were the final push she needed. Ruby shot Weiss a small smile before cautiously stepping through the threshold. Blue eyes trailed after her, though they turned away when she saw Ruby stopping in front of the display case. Some part of Weiss felt like they deserved to have a private moment.

Minutes ticked by, and the breathy sighs coming from inside the room were doing Weiss no favours. Rolling her eyes at a particularly large sigh that was followed by a series of clicks which meant that the scythe was unfurling, she inspected her nails idly as she waited for Ruby to finish admiring the future form of Crescent Rose. A tiny part of her protested at how unfair it was that Ruby seemed happier about seeing her weapon that she did her partner. Weiss silenced it by filling her mind with other thoughts.

She checked her scroll, her pulse jumping when she saw how late it'd gotten. Almost two hours had passed since Ruby had woken up, and that only left her with another hour of keeping the redhead company. Though her meeting with the board of directors was to begin at 4, it would take at least half an hour to get to the building itself. Weiss bit her lip, contemplating on whether or not it would be better to cancel the meeting entirely.

She reasoned that it was just one of those monthly reports anyway, and it wasn't worth leaving Ruby to sit in a stuffy room with stuffy people, exchanging small talk in an attempt to get on each other's good sides.

And it wasn't like this version of Ruby would be here forever. She had an inkling that the effects of the 'explosion' would only last for a day at most. In that case–

"Boop." Ruby stood on her tip toes, gently bopping her on the nose. Weiss looked down in wonderment and couldn't help but grin. When had she stepped out?

"All done?" She asked, prompting Ruby to scan her finger once more. The door closed with the feeling of finality. Ruby nodded enthusiastically, her smile wider than usual. Weiss's eyebrows rose but she said nothing, letting the girl bask in her awe. She was practically skipping on her way out, tugging Weiss along with her.

The pair left the workshop and entered the ridiculously large hallway which was linked to various others rooms in the house. Weiss kept her lips sealed about the mini-arcade on the second floor. As if the other Ruby didn't spend enough time in there already. When they strode past a towering grandfather clock that'd been passed down the Schnee family for generations, Weiss balked when she saw that it was almost time to leave.

"Damn." She muttered, shaking her head. She was torn on whether to submit to her pragmatic side, which demanded that company matters should come first, or to her romantic side – which told her that spending time with Ruby was _undeniably_ more important. As if on cue, the redhead gave her hand a small squeeze, smiling up at the older woman. Weiss melted quicker than an ice cream cone that had been left under the sun.

Whipping out her scroll, she sent a quick text to her personal assistant, mumbling a silent apology to the soon to be stressed out Faunus.

* * *

Today was a marvellous day for Sophia.

There were no disgruntled customers calling and she'd managed to get a date with the cute boy working at the front desk. She sighed happily, shuffling the last of her paper work, categorizing them alphabetically to be slotted in to their respective files. Yes, it was an absolutely _marvellous_ day.

Her scroll vibrated. Glancing at it with a small amount of irritation, she unlocked the device and was taken aback by the sender of said message. Her boss was supposed to be coming in at any moment – a quick glance at a nearby clock showed that it was almost 3.15 – perhaps Miss Schnee was stuck in traffic?

She clicked on the message and skimmed through its contents.

Her jaw quivered.

She thought about all the disgruntled directors who'd cleared their schedules for this meeting and imagined what their faces would look like when she would tell them that said meeting was postponed.

The scroll slid from her grasp and hit the floor, the woman now cradling her face with her hands.

* * *

"What do you want to do next?"

Ruby looked up at the question, her arm pausing in mid-air. She licked her crumb stained lips and pondered. "I dunno." She said after a minute of brain storming. She shoved the cookie into her mouth, chewing it noisily. "What about you, Weiss? What do _you_ feel like doing?"

Now it was her turn to pause when the question was asked. Taking a small sip of her tea (Ren was right when he'd said that these best he'd ever tasted) Weiss racked her brains for some sort of activity that the both of them might enjoy. Since the mansion was built on Schnee private property, it meant that that she had full reign over whatever facilities stood in the surrounding area. Unfortunately, there wasn't any facilities to speak off since she never bothered developing the area – the mansion was technically isolated from the outside world by the large expanse of forests.

Weiss lit up at the mention of forests. There was one activity that Ruby would love, considering that she once lived in Patch. She recalled the times where her girlfriend would brag about fun she and Yang used to have near their home, talking about how they pretended to be explorers or collected any funny looking acorns they would find.

Ruby was startled when Weiss placed a hand on her arm, looking at her so intensely that her cheeks soon felt like they were on fire.

"Let's go on a picnic."

* * *

They packed a light lunch consisting of their favourite foods. Packing the quiche and salad that had been prepared by the cooks at Schnee mansion was simple enough, and Ruby insisted that they bring the box of strawberries that'd been hidden at the back of the fridge. The delighted look on the younger girl's face had been enough to prevent Weiss from telling her that the strawberries were hidden for a reason.

"Well technically, she's _did_ say that only she was allowed to touch it." The woman mumbled under her breath, her eyes glittering in amusement. She imagined the look of horror on her girlfriend's face and chuckled. Beside her, Ruby gave her a strange look but turned her attention back to her surroundings. She breathed in mouthful of fresh air, a heady mixture of oxygen and various grass cuttings, while silver eyes took in every bush, every tree that'd they strolled past.

They were currently walking down one of the numerous trails left by the people who worked on the Schnee estate. According to one of maids that was employed, many of the employees enjoyed strolling and exploring this part of the forests on their days off. Many of them had grown up in the city, and the tempting allure of a peaceful forest had been too much to resist. Ruby smiled at how nice the lady had been. She'd also told them about the large meadow that west of the trail, which was where they were currently headed.

"Do you and the older me come out here often?" Ruby asked, jumping over a broken twig on the ground.

Weiss pondered about it for a moment or two. "Not really. We actually prefer to spend our time…" Skin on skin. Clothes flung haphazardly onto the floor. Scratching, biting – muffled screams of someone hitting the breaking point. "…Indoors."

"Gosh, really?" Ruby answered with a look of surprise. "Do we still go on daily runs together? You know, like we did at Beacon?"

"We do, actually. But not as much as before."

"Whattt?" The redhead flailed her arms, looking aghast at the news. "Then how do we keep in shape?"

Weiss beamed, her fingers brushing over Ruby's knuckles. The responding shiver made her smile grow wider. "Short bursts of intensive physical activity." She looked up, blue eyes momentarily glazing over. "Of which we had many, _many_ sessions of." She purred.

Feeling her face flush at the low rasp in Weiss's words, Ruby quickly dropped that line of questioning. She didn't quite know what Weiss meant, but she felt like it would benefit her not to ask. She cleared her throat.

"Sooo, what happened after I graduated Beacon? Did I become a famous huntress with my very own television show?" Ruby joked, grinning when Weiss snorted.

"Yes and no."

Ruby deflated a little. "Aww."

"You do have a book written about you, though." Weiss supplied helpfully, wrapping an arm around Ruby's waist as they sidestepped a fallen log that was crawling with ants. The redhead made a face when she spotted them, squishing herself deeper into the woman's side. Weiss noted with glee that she didn't pull herself away even after they continued on their way, the log disappearing behind them. The hand holding the picnic basket tightened. She contemplated on just throwing it aside and scoop the girl into her arms.

"Really?" Ruby replied, a note of disbelief in her voice. "Wow, I must be _really_ famous then." She fist pumped.

"At least you're famous for the right reasons. Yang is famous for–" Weiss rolled her eyes. "Her puns."

The younger girl made a face. "Speaking of puns, did hers get any good?"

"Not at all. In fact, they've only gotten much worse." Weiss groaned. "They can cause physical pain now. Just the other day, she rebutted some guy who was hitting on her with the line that she had no interest in his _Xiao Long_." She sighed, pinching her temples.

Ruby frowned. "Wait…what?"

"She was referring to his– oh never mind." Weiss shook her head.

Pointedly ignoring the rest of Ruby's demands to explain what the pun meant, she looked up when they passed an exceptionally tall tree – its branches spreading far and wide, like the wings of a giant nevermore. Ruby followed her line of sight. "That lady told us that the meadow was just past this tree right?" She asked.

Weiss nodded. "Be on the lookout for it. We'll have to leave the trail and getting lost would be annoying, not to mention time consuming."

Ruby scoffed. "Weiss, it's a _meadow_. It should be really easy to find."

"Says the girl who got lost on her first day at Beacon."

"H-Hey! It's not like I had a map or anything. And I wasn't the only one who got lost!" Ruby defended, pouting at Weiss's light-hearted tease.

They eventually stumbled upon the meadow, thanks to tiny landmarks and signs left by the mansion's staff. It was also big enough that getting lost while looking for it would have been laughable. It was also partly thanks to Weiss, who was able to keep Ruby from getting _too_ distracted and wandering off the forest trail.

To both their surprise and delight – there was a large, if rather old picnic table with two benches on either side of it stationed near the trail that provided an unhindered view of the meadow. The place didn't look as unruly as Weiss imagined it would be. There were some signs that told that the grass was trimmed just recently, and the Schnee gave herself a mental pat on the back for hiring competent staff. Getting someone to take care of the mansion grounds proved to be a rewarding move.

"Strawberries, strawberries!" Ruby chanted as Weiss set down the basket. She shot the redhead a suffering look, shaking her head. "Those can come after you've had lunch." Weiss said disapprovingly, "Now help me unpack, or I'll take those strawberries for myself."

Ruby gasped, looking at her in mock horror. "Y-You wouldn't."

"Try me." Weiss rebutted.

Ruby grinned. "Maybe one day~!" She sang, feeling surprisingly bold. Weiss looked taken aback by the younger girl's innuendo and had to cough several times to cover up the blush creeping onto her cheeks. She _hmped_ and went back to unpacking. In a few minutes, all their food was now neatly spread out on the table and Weiss pulled out a small bottle of sparkling water. She poured some into a cup for Ruby before doing so for herself.

"This is the fanciest picnic I've ever had." Ruby remarked as she sipped the drink, a pleased expression spreading across her face.

While she would have preferred a cup of soda to water (even if it was sparkly) Ruby agreed that the choice of drink perfectly fit the air of sophistication surrounding the picnic. She had an inkling that it was due to Weiss's presence. The woman could make drinking out of a plastic cup, charming.

Sneaking a look at Weiss, she marvelled at how mature her partner had gotten, how she looked so completely at ease with herself – the pink scar looking more like a beautiful accessory than a blemish. And not for the first time that day, she felt herself blush at how eagerly her eyes raked over Weiss's profile.

"Well, it's about to get even fancier." Weiss laughed and handed her a set of plastic cutlery complete with paper plates. She smirked at Ruby's whine. Weiss cut off the girl's complaints about having to use fork and knives by slicing into the freshly baked quiche, carefully cutting a slice that she promptly deposited on Ruby's plate. She was about to do the same for herself but Ruby had other ideas.

"Oh oh, I wanna cut one for you too!" She cheered, standing from her seat. Since the two were sitting on opposite ends of the table, Ruby's position made it easier for her to lean forward and cut a slice without any obstruction.

Weiss winced at how roughly the girl had plunged her knife into the quiche but said nothing. Ruby stuck her tongue out in concentration as she lifted the slice and navigated it towards Weiss's plate. Leaning across the large table, she managed to place the slice on her plate without incident, and heaved a sigh of relief. Weiss felt her shoulders relax and picked up her fork.

Ruby drew back, smiling, and slipped on a pebble she'd been standing on.

Arms flailing, she fell forward and landed face first in the quiche.

Weiss gasped. "Ruby!" Dropping her cutlery, she quickly stood up to help just as Ruby lifted her head from the metal tin, groaning terribly. She lifted her hand in an effort to wipe off the crushed remains of the quiche stuck to her face, but Weiss grabbed her wrist firmly.

"Stop that you clumsy idiot." Weiss sighed. "I'll clean it for you."

Ruby made a two finger salute, smiling sheepishly under the layer of egg custard. Well that could have gone better.

* * *

"Ahh, that was great!" Ruby sighed contently, patting her stomach. Beside her, Weiss let out an unladylike snort and nudged her.

"Yes, it was a miracle that we didn't go hungry. What will Grace think when she finds out how you ended up wasting the quiche?" Weiss teased, giggling when the younger girl gasped. It was almost too easy to coax a reaction out of Ruby, especially when she had years of practice under her belt.

"I-It was an accident." She pointed out, eyebrows furrowing cutely as she took a small sip of what remained of her drink. "And you promised not to bring that up!"

"Sorry." Weiss answered, not sounding very apologetic at all. In fact, the giant smirk spoke volumes of how unaffected she was by Ruby's words. Ruby huffed, pouting and mumbling about how much of a meanie her partner had become.

Sitting side by side on the same bench, they gazed out at the sprawling meadow. Weiss closed her eyes, enjoying the gentle kiss of the breeze, the soft yet amiable rustling sounds caused by the wind whipping through the stalks of grass around them. Nothing could ever hold a candle to how she felt when she was around Ruby, younger version or no. There was something soothing to the redhead's presence, and Weiss mused that she was already addicted to it.

Weiss blinked when she felt something heavy lean against her. How strange. Twin orbs of blue glanced sideways. Her lips stretched to accommodate a small smile. Ruby snored softly, her cup forgotten in lieu of holding the edge of Weiss's shirt. The gesture was innocent and endearing. Weiss slowly and gently stretched her arm across Ruby's small shoulders – pulling their bodies closer together. She sighed, running her free hand through her hair.

There were truly some things in this world that lien could not buy.

* * *

 **AN** :

* _Gasps_ * So…much…fluff. * _Falls over_ *

Haha okay so I wanted to upload this on Valentine's Day but I'm too impatient for that. I managed to finish this chapter, thankfully, because as I was typing the ending I got hit by a god awful headache :/ bleh. And holy shit y'all, how did this fic hit this much favs and follows? You're spoiling me! Seriously!

I wanna thank everyone who's read, faved and followed this story so far – I'm glad that you guys like fluffy whiterose goodness! And I always have a ball responding to the reviews, and a big thank you and hug to everyone who took the time to leave a review! :D And also, reading through my past AN's, I realised that I used the word _y'all_ a lot. No idea why, lol. But anyway thanks for reading this latest chapter!


	6. Side B - Part 3

After lunch, the two had taken to basking in the soft breeze and just relaxing against one another. Ruby had suggested that they finish the rest of the strawberries. Once she'd devoured them however, she had dozed off after Weiss let her rest her head on her lap. Since the Schnee couldn't bear to wake her, that move would be considered right up there with kicking a puppy, she had decided to carry the girl back instead.

Weiss had picked her up with relative ease, but if Ruby occupied her arms, there left the problem of the picnic basket. After some brainstorming, she improvised between holding both Ruby _and_ the basket. Leaving either of them left behind to the mercy of the elementals was out of the question.

Those decisions eventually brought her to this current dilemma.

Weiss valiantly tried to adjust the girl on her back into a better position. The reason for the Ruby's precarious perch on her back, was due to the fact that Weiss was only holding her up with one arm. There was a picnic basket in the other hand, which didn't leave her with many options.

Weiss felt her terror rise when Ruby's body teetered backwards and bit down the urge to yell. Despite the awkward position that she was in, Ruby still continued sleeping peacefully, dead to the world around her. Weiss did not find this surprising. She remembered how tough it was to get Ruby up in time for class.

Ruby suddenly fidgeted, shifting into a more comfortable position. This action forced Weiss to pause (again) and adjust her arm. Ruby was by no means heavy, but to hold her up with one arm, despite her short stature, still meant that Weiss would need some muscle to keep her from sliding off her back and face planting. No one would be happy if they woke up with a mouthful of dirt.

Weiss silently thanked her girlfriend for pushing her to continue with their huntress exercise regime even _after_ she'd taken over the SDC. At first, many people were aghast when they saw her training herself to the point of exhaustion. But after many demonstrations of how she could decimate a dummy in fifty different ways, some of which featured lightning bursting out of the sharp pointy end of her rapier, everyone eventually decided to mind their own business.

One corner of her mouth lifted in amusement at a particular memory.

She had once summoned a goliath to go up against the latest Atlesian robot, the eventual robotic successor to the one team RWBY had fought in their first year. It had taken a lot of concentration and weeks of conditioning to even summon something of that size. Even if she had already graduated from Beacon with honours, summoning could still be hard on the body. The end result, however, had been worth it.

It had been extremely gratifying to see the looks of shock painted across the faces of every shareholder and board director who'd obviously came to see her crash and burn. Their collectively snooty faces went pale when the summoned goliath had picked the giant robot up with its tusks, rattled it like a baby would when it found a new toy, and threw it across the room. Winter had smirked and shook her hand, before ushering all the slack jawed observers out of the room. The twinkle in her older sister's eyes had fuelled her pride for weeks.

A ridiculously loud snore split the air. Weiss groaned quietly, shaking her head. She resumed her trek back toward the mansion and took in a lungful of fresh air– choking when Ruby's lips brushed against the nape of her neck.

"This girl…" She shook her head to get rid of the pleasant tingle and shouldered on.

If this had been _her_ Ruby, Weiss would've thought that she was being teased on purpose. But if her memory served her correctly, and it usually did, the fifteen year old behind her didn't have a single subtle bone in her body _before_ they began dating. She had been (still was, actually) a complete klutz outside of anything that did not require welding two pieces of metal together.

When Ruby had matured, she got infinitely better at playing coy, although that only shone through when she was alone with Weiss. Weiss sighed breathily at those sweet, _sweet_ memories.

The edge of the mansion came into view just as the younger girl stirred. In an impeccable display of dexterity, Weiss managed to keep Ruby from falling on her rump when she flailed about like Nora on a syrup high. "…Hn, W-Weiss?" She mumbled, her voice thick with sleep. "Wher' we?"

"Nearly home." Weiss answered quietly, setting the picnic basket down. Her other hand now free of the wicker prison, she reached behind to steady the girl.

Ruby yawned, and rubbed her eyes with the bumbling grace of a tiny animal. If Weiss had turned around and seen her at that precise moment, she might have to explain why she decided to pick Ruby up by the armpits and hold her up against the orange shine of the setting sun. That action was _probably_ trademarked and the SDC had enough lawsuits to deal with on a regular basis. The family lawyer would not be pleased. Not that the man was ever pleased with anything anyway, he was an even larger sourpuss than her father.

"Kay." Ruby said, cracking one eye open. She looked around them, becoming flustered when she saw how low the sun had sank. That five minute shut eye had lasted much longer than she'd anticipated. The pastel coloured landscape stole her breath away, and she reached out to grab Weiss's hand. It helped that the forest reminded her of the ones she had explored in Patch. The woman grinned and squeezed the limb reassuringly.

"I must have slept like a pig." The redhead smiled wryly. "Sorry Weiss, I know you wanted to go for a walk before we went back."

"Its fine, Ruby. As long as you enjoyed yourself, I see no reason to be upset." Leading the girl up the path, they took the rest of the time to observe how the trees and plants around them seemed to shrink as the glowing ball of energy seemed to disappear from the sky. The previously blue canvas was now light yellow, and a small flock of birds took off from the tree tops, scattering like ants as they slowly disappeared into the distance. The retreating caws were eventually drowned out by the chirp of insects.

The scroll in her pocket vibrated. Weiss passed the picnic basket to Ruby, who was more than happy to hold it, and fished the scroll out of her girl pocket. The redhead began swinging the basket, causing Weiss to roll her eyes before answering the call.

"Hello?" She said, only just realizing that she'd answered without reading the caller ID. She was going to be pissed if this was one of those sleazy telemarketers.

"Sup, princess." Yang yelled, her voice impossibly loud, causing her to flinch. Ruby stopped terrorizing the basket and looked up, the curiosity clear in the pools of silver. Weiss wished that Yang was here so she could strangle the woman for nearly taking her ear off. "Blake and I have been chillin' in the living room for the past hour. Where the heck did you guys go?"

"We also helped ourselves to the drinks in the fridge." Blake added in helpfully from the background.

There was a pause, followed by sound of a can being opened. Weiss caught the tail end of Blake's snickering and winced. Damn those two, it sounded as if they'd found her stash of beer.

What? Drinking wine all the time could be unspeakably boring.

She huffed. "Ruby and I ended up going on a picnic since we didn't feel like wasting the day away. We didn't go _that_ far so we'll be back pretty soon. About ten minutes, give or take."

"Aw c'mon!" Yang whined. "Did you hear that Blake? We missed the opportunity for a team picnic. See what happens when you don't listen to me? Bad stuff happens." Weiss sighed when the line was filled with petty squabbling and some static that meant the scroll was being tossed around. Ruby tilted her head and mouthed ' _Is that Yang?_ ' to which she nodded, wrinkling her nose for comedic effect. Ruby giggled and shook her head.

"Ahem."

"What Yang meant to say, was," Blake's voice came over the line, the Faunus sounding smug. "That we got held up because _she_ wanted to change outfits before meeting Ruby. She went through eight different ones before I dragged her out of the house."

"Hey, I gotta look great when I see my lil' sis, alright?" Ah. Yang must have wrestled the phone from Blake. Weiss bit down a snort. "And I needed to find a long sleeve shirt before she sees the…y'know."

"Oh. That…makes sense." Weiss blinked, slightly startled at the implication. She'd forgotten that Yang was more thoughtful than she acted sometimes. "Alright, we're almost there, so don't _break_ anything!"

"Aye aye." Both women called before the line went silent. Ruby grinned at the amused look on Weiss's face as she put away the scroll. Some things never did change, did they?

* * *

Ruby squealed when Yang hoisted her up, the sleek and upgraded form of Ember Celica tickling her underarms as the woman swung her around. Yang dropped her when she expressed how dizzy she was getting, but she ended up on the receiving end of a hug that felt like she was being crushed by a Boa constrictor. Her older sister let her go just in time to dodge the pillow Blake flung at them.

Using her semblance to dart away when Yang lunged at her playfully, Blake made a rather rude gesture that had Ruby snorting with laughter. That didn't last since Yang switched targets mid chase and bounded towards her instead. She screamed before her face was buried in her sister's generous bosoms, Blake yelling something about being a sore loser from behind the sofa.

Weiss watched them with amused twinkle in her eyes. Her smile faltered when Ruby took a step back and gazed curiously at Yang's right hand– which was the only one covered by a glove. Sensing a few uncomfortable questions looming on the horizon, she slid out from the barstool and yanked the blonde toward her. Yang let out a few choice insults before stopping herself from falling over. Weiss smirked and shrugged at sight of Blake's upturned thumbs.

"Oh wow!" Ruby turned her attention towards the B of team RWBY, amber eyes glinting playfully. Blake grinned, doing a small peace sign with her fingers. On top of her head, velvety black ears twitched excitedly. The redhead laughed and barrelled towards her, nearly losing her footing in the rush. Blake let out a loud oomph when the weight crashed into her stomach, Ruby hugging her tightly. Blake resisted the urge to coo and ruffled Ruby's hair instead. "I take it that the past me hasn't shown off these babies yet?"

"Nope, not yet." The redhead shook her head before her lips broke out into a knowing grin. "Did you just call your ears, babies?"

The Faunus nodded sagely. "Yang is a bad influence."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I'm the _purrfect_ influence." The blonde nudged Weiss in the side, going ' _eh? eh?_ ' making the woman groan loudly. Ruby balked and wondered if Weiss was going to drop kick the blonde. Meanwhile, the cat Faunus standing beside her started shaking her head in mock disappointment and tutted.

"That was weak, Xiao Long. What you should have said was, 'Are you _kitten_ me? Be _clawful_ of what you say.'" Blake smirked.

Weiss slapped a hand to her forehead. "Dust help us all, not _this_ again." If she rolled her eyes any harder, they might just fall out of her sockets. "Come Ruby, let's leave the two alone before we _drown_ in all these horrible puns."

The redhead turned in her direction, their eyes locking for several moments. She suddenly grinned brightly, causing Weiss to gasp in terror.

" _Cat got your tongue_ , Weiss?" Ruby said. Blake and Yang fell silent, before breaking down in laughter. Ruby puffed her chest out proudly, thanking the Xiao Long blood running through her veins for enabling her to make that pun. Dad would've been so proud.

"That was good, right Weiss? Weiss?! I was just joking, come _back_!"

Weiss stopped in her tracks and eyed all three _children_ sternly. She tapped her foot. Though their mouths were clamped shut, courtesy of Ruby's startled cry that stopped her from exiting dramatically, the devilish looks they exchanged made her the vein in her forehead throb.

"No more cat puns." She said flatly. "Or I'm forcing all of you to eat salads for dinner."

Yang gasped, clutching at her heart. Blake and Ruby looked mildly disturbed. "You wouldn't." Yang breathed shakily, her expression one of pure horror. The idea of eating leaves and twigs for dinner was appalling. She couldn't survive on that stuff, no matter what Weiss said. Fried greasy food was the only thing that could satisfy her. Among other things.

The smirk on Weiss's face spoke volumes. One elegant eyebrow rose, and she folded her arms. Yang shook her head. "You would. Dammit, it looks like our reign of terror has come to a bitter end." She looked over to Blake and Ruby and saluted, causing Weiss to scoff and the other two to laugh.

"Good." The Schnee nodded in satisfaction.

"Er, there's one problem Weiss." The woman turned to Ruby, eyebrows creased in confusion. The guilt in Ruby's tone pulled Weiss down from cloud nine, her previous mood darkening. "I'm...I'm still full." The redhead finally said, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. She toed the expensive carpet with a pensive expression.

Yang shrugged. "That's alright Rubes. We can just laze around, maybe pop in a movie until you get in the mood for some munchies."

"Seconded." Blake smiled. "I'm not particularly hungry at the moment. What about you Weiss?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Weiss patted her stomach, "That movie sounds like a splendid idea. How surprising for you to suggest something so…normal though." She addressed the blond, thinking back to the time Yang brought all of them sky-diving for Ruby's twentieth birthday. And of course, Yang being Yang, had forgotten to check for any Nevermore nests around the area she'd chosen. Weiss shivered. Seeing a giant winged Grimm flying towards them in mid-air had _not_ been pleasant.

"Oh I doubt that Ruby would be prepared for any of the ideas I had in mind." Yang's smirk slammed into her with full force. "Or any of _your_ ideas for that matter." She winked. Blake guffawed. Ruby had lost interest in their banter so she didn't catch Yang's quip and was wandered towards the cabinet standing beside the humongous flat screen television.

Weiss felt her voice crack when she squeaked, the sound further widening the blonde's grin. "Why do I even put up with you…?" Weiss said sullenly, wishing that her Ruby was here to rein in her foul mouthed sister.

Weiss was _not_ unhappy at having the younger redhead being here. It was just that she missed her girlfriend. Her sweet rose who relied on her and kept her company. Ruby's absence meant that they couldn't partake in any of their regular nightly events and that was immensely saddening. Weiss sighed wistfully. Yang snorted and pretended to gag, only stopping when she ended up on the receiving end of a glare. She stopped to put her hands up in mock surrender, smirking.

"Oh! Oh! This one looks _awesome_." Ruby's excited voice filled the room and stole their attention. All three women nodded at the redhead. Ruby laughed and appeared at Weiss's side in a burst of rose petals, grabbing her wrist and dragging her to the shiny theatre system.

Blake decided some snacks were in order and turned tail, heading to the kitchen. Giving herself the job of doing nothing and ultimately just waiting until everyone and everything was set up, Yang threw herself on the sofa, kicked off her shoes and rested her bare feet on the coffee table.

Weiss kicked her in the shin minutes later, citing germs and her overall annoyance at Yang's atrocious display of manners.

* * *

"Ugh, that movie was thirty minutes too long."

"Really? The plot could use some work, but I think that it was perfect lengthwise."

Yang shook her head as she stuffed the last of the popcorn into her mouth, wiping her buttery fingers on a tissue. "Sorry partner, but I gotta agree with Weiss on this one. They should have just ended it with that happily ever after schick. What happened after that just felt tacked on." She shrugged.

Ruby, who had been nibbling on a half-eaten ham and cheese sandwich that Blake passed out before the movie started, looked up at that statement. "I think the ending was the part I really enjoyed though." She added thoughtfully, swallowing the last of the bread before taking a sip of lukewarm milk. "I mean, I felt bad for them what with the giant stomping on their houses and all, but the ending was pretty deep. And sorta sad too."

Blake smiled, holding her hand up for Ruby to hi-five, which the younger girl did – enthusiastically.

"I never ceased to be amazed at what you pick." Weiss said, "The types of books that you enjoy don't exactly line up with your taste in films." That was something which Weiss had never figured out even after being in a relationship with Ruby for three years and counting. Ruby could never finish melancholic or heavy themed books, but she absolutely loved dark, heart-wrenching films. Bonus points if it ended horribly for the main characters.

Yang snorted. "So says the heiress who enjoys raunchy porn books while hating sappy romance films."

" _Hey_!"

"I-I didn't know you liked…those types of books." Ruby bowed her head shyly, cheeks colouring as she imagined Weiss settling down with a cup of hot tea and browsing through such content like it were a textbook on history.

"The Ninja's of Love is not porn!" Blake nearly spat out her drink at the mention of her revered books, "It's _fine_ literature. Or erotica, if you so desperately need to categorize it." Weiss sniffed, although she was inwardly slapping Yang across the face with her heel. The pointy end of it. Ruby tuned the rest of their argument out, mostly because her face was already on fire, and if it got any brighter, Ruby could get a part time job at the Beacon lighthouse.

A low buzz beside her made her body jerk in surprise. Blinking at the sudden scare, Ruby looked to her left to see Weiss's scroll vibrating madly between the two sofa cushions, which it had somehow sunk between over the course of the movie. "Er, Weiss?" She tapped the woman's shoulder, "I think someone's calling for you."

"Oh? Hand it over please."

The redhead did just that, and when Weiss stared down at the caller ID, she let out a surprised breath. Blake and Yang stopped discussing the finer points of film-making and how turning a book into a movie was a horrible idea, and looked at Weiss questioningly. The CEO of the SDC eyed the scroll like it were some sort of rabid animal before swiping her finger across the screen.

"Good evening, Winter." Weiss demurred. "Was there something you needed…?"

* * *

About half an hour later, three women and one girl fidgeted uncomfortably in place as Winter glared at them, though it was more like an interested stare in Ruby's case.

"At least I know the reason for today's absence." Winter said, "Though I would have preferred if you'd had gone back to do some damage control."

Weiss had the decency to look embarrassed, but otherwise remained firm in her decision. "Sophia is perfectly capable of handling a couple of indignant old men." she affirmed.

"Ah yes, it wouldn't be the first time she'd have to do such a thing, correct?"

Weiss shut up at the barb. She glared when Yang whispered ' _burn'_ under her breath, and lifted her chin in defiance. Winter shook her head, and instead of dignifying her little sister with another tongue lashing, she turned and addressed Ruby instead.

"What a sight for sore eyes, Ruby Rose." Winter mused, her eyes losing their hard edge as she observed the younger girl fidgeting in her seat. Ruby gave Winter a weak smile and nodded.

"Er, hi. I-I mean, greetings!" She quickly stood up and gave a clumsy bow. Yang and Blake had to bite back their laughter while Weiss just looked mortified. It was somehow hilarious yet painful to watch that train wreck happen all over again.

"At ease, soldier." Winter chuckled, causing Ruby to do a double take. No one looked surprised that the older Schnee had just made a joke, Ruby observed. In fact, they were scarily unaffected by it. Not for the first time, Ruby was coming dangerously close to wishing she could stay in the future forever. Everything seemed much lighter. Everyone had grown into such great people, so much so that Ruby felt small in comparison. This is what she had to live up to, and she underneath their watchful gazes, she imagined the pressure building.

Had the future her managed to grow up as wonderful as they had?

"I was hoping that we could speak about some private matters. I know it is considered rude to kick out someone of their own home but…" Weiss sat up slightly at that, as did the rest of them, "In any case, I would be grateful if you could give us some privacy, Ruby."

"Sure." Ruby agreed, though she knew that she didn't really have a choice in the matter. "I'll just wait in the workshop or something."

" _Actually_ , I think you might be better off waiting in the garden instead." Winter smiled mysteriously. "There is a certain someone there, who in all honesty, would be delighted to see you again."

"Oh." She felt her curiosity flare. "Okay!" Ruby gave everyone in the room a small wave before dashing off. Weiss shouted the directions after her when she realised that the girl had no way of knowing where the manor's well-kept garden resided. Winter rolled her shoulders and sat in the armchair that Yang had vacated, letting out a huge sigh. Blake sipped at her milk, and Weiss cleared her throat as she waited for her sister to speak.

"This is about the trial." Winter said, rubbing the pads of her fingers over her knuckles. Yang's aura flared at the mention of _that_ , and Blake felt her cat ears flatten themselves against her skull, her nose wrinkling. Weiss's lips thinned, but remained aloof for the most part.

"Cinder got off with a heavy sentence," Winter began. "Mercury has also gotten a similar sentence, with the exception of his prosthetics to be taken away."

Yang growled. "Ruby should have cut that bitch's head off when she had the chance." She fingered the glove with her hand, feeling the cold tang of steel beneath the threaded material. Winter nodded in agreement, expression darkening. "But she didn't. And we'll have to live with those consequences." She replied.

Weiss opened her mouth to interject but Blake beat her to the punch. "But she didn't. It might not have been the best decision, but at least Cinder gets to taste what justice feels like." The cat Faunus smiled wryly. "Pardon the cliché."

Weiss smiled. "What about Emerald?" She asked.

"What about her?" Winter raised a brow. "I assumed that you had already heard the news. She's being moved to a low security prison as we speak."

"The council didn't pardon her after all that she'd done." Yang piped up, "I mean, she supported Cinder but she stuck her neck out for all of us in the end. They took _this_ long to come to a decision and it's still a big 'fuck you' to Emerald. Damned old men and their stupid games." Everyone in the room made varying levels of noise in agreement.

" _However_." Winter smirked. "Ozpin managed to sway the council to allow her to be escorted by a handful of Atlesian Knight-200s, which the Atlas army will gladly provide."

Blake laughed outright, realising something. "Those tin cans don't stand a chance against her." She stated. Yang and Weiss exchanged looks equal parts surprise and shock when they caught on, and turned to stare at Winter incredulously. The older Schnee's smirk grew.

"Exactly."

"I know we don't say this enough, but…" Weiss started, " _Thank god_ for Ozpin."

* * *

Ruby didn't know what to expect when she'd entered the garden. It was lush, smelled nice, and looked pretty goddamn awesome, but she was more preoccupied with wondering who she would see. Someone who would be delighted to see her? It felt as if Winter was laying it on a bit thick.

"IS THAT YOU FRIEND RUBY?"

…Maybe Winter had been right after all.

"Ohmigosh, _Penny_?" She nearly fell over when the robot glomped her, but to her surprise, the ginger haired girl's (woman?) hold didn't feel at all hard and cold like the first time they'd hugged. In fact, it felt surprisingly…soft. Lifelike was one word Ruby would use to describe the sensation.

Penny beamed, and Ruby marvelled at how she seemed to glow. That could have been just the fault of the overhead lamps, though.

"It's so wonderful to see you again, Ruby!" Penny gushed when she let go. Ruby had to look up when she was addressed, and let out a gasp.

"Your hair! It's…its long!" The redhead nearly smacked herself when she said it. She wasn't supposed to gawk at how long someone's hair was, but she couldn't help herself. To her, everyone had grown in the blink of an eye, and every little change had her mind screeching to a stop to match it with her previous memories. "I like it, but how did you…?" Ruby wondered.

"Oh, father had my previous hair replaced since I–" Penny replied enthusiastically. The bite-sized technology inside her skull had her next words screeching to a stop. Her mind produced a series of reasoning's that urged her to clarify some facts before unloading the entirety of past events onto this extremely youthful version of Ruby.

"Say, Ruby?" She asked, making the redhead perk up. "How is it that you look exactly like the you from all those years ago? I have the memory of the first time we met, and upon comparing that meeting and this one, you seem to be a hundred percent match."

"Ah." Ruby looked bashful. She explained the event which had led her up to this point, with the ginger haired robot nodding wherever appropriate. Penny smiled. "That story must have been humorous to tell everyone that you had met so far." Her internal databases recorded that fact, and Penny steered the conversation away from what she'd been saying previously.

She didn't want to cause Ruby any fright by telling her what was in store for her. For everyone. For remnant.

"Ehehe, yeah!" Ruby laughed, unaware of her thought process. "I didn't think I had it in me to create something like that, accident or not."

"That's not true! You can do anything you put your mind to. You have been the prime example of that, Ruby. Everything you have done so far has proven it."

"Wow, I sound…amazing." Ruby tilted her head and bit her lip.

"Because you are!" Penny exclaimed, her long hair swishing dramatically in the wind. The sight brought a small chuckle to Ruby's lips. "As your best friend, I believe that I have the right to say this as many times as possible."

Ruby brightened. "Aw, thanks, Penny." She blushed under the praise. "I have some pretty big shoes to fill now though…" Seeing the doubt in Ruby's expression, Penny realised her mistake and quickly pushed forth to erase it. What a truly idiotic blunder. She still had more to learn than she'd thought.

"Everyone does, Ruby." The robot assured. "You do not have to worry about that right now. Just remember to be true to who you are. Never compromise your ideals or morals for anyone, and do what you believe to be the right thing."

Ruby tilted her head at how serious Penny sounded. Seeing the earnest expression on Penny's dimpled face, she giggled and nodded. Suddenly eager to change the topic of conversation, Ruby asked if Penny would tell her what she was doing these days. The ginger android gladly obliged, happy to have found a willing listener to her bombastic stories.

* * *

After all that happened throughout the day, bedtime was an informal affair. The rest of the night went by quicker than anticipated, and Ruby had to be bodily hauled back into the manor before she caught a chill. Yang and Blake had left soon after Winter and Penny did, and although Weiss had offered them guest rooms to stay in, they cited that they had to be in Mistral come morning for another one of Yang's gigs. Weiss just shrugged and sent them off, with Ruby standing on her toes beside her as they waved at their retreating figures.

So now, Ruby and Weiss were preparing for bed. They would have finished sooner, but they'd gotten side-tracked when Ruby decided to play with Weiss's hair.

"Hah, it's been a long time since I've held this." Weiss stroked the newly cleaned red cape in her hands. Behind her, Ruby let out a soft laugh as she threaded her fingers through the silky white hair. She always compared Weiss's hair to fresh snow on a winter's day because of how light it felt in her fingers and how it would always slip out of her hold.

"Hm? Why's that?"

"If I remember correctly, your first cape ended up tearing in our second year."

"What?!" Ruby wailed.

Weiss winced at the memory. "It was a particularly hard semester." She said.

Hard was not an adequate word to describe their situation back then. In fact, it was a _horrible_ understatement. Unlike their first year, all– if not most– Beacon students were put onto the field in a desperate fight for humanity. Vale was almost overrun by Grimm at that point, and the students were organised into cells to help contain the Grimm attacks that popped up left and right. Team RWBY was very nearly lost in that chaos.

Weiss shuddered. If she hadn't escaped her father's lockdown in time and made a beeline straight for Haven, things would have turned out _very_ differently.

Ruby let her hands fall to her sides. " _Ugh_ , I don't feel like going back now." She flung herself backwards, bouncing on the mattress. Weiss pushed herself up and stretched her legs, relived when the blood began circulating properly again. Turning around, one delicate eyebrow arched when she saw Ruby splayed across the sheets like a sunbathing walrus.

"Why not?" Weiss asked, helping the redhead out of her footwear. She grabbed the bunny eared slippers and set them neatly at the edge of the bed.

Ruby rolled across the mattress, giving her some space to climb in. Weiss took off her own pair of slippers, they were made of a fuzzy material that could make feet fall asleep instantly, and fluffed her pillows before climbing in. "Everything here is so…perfect." Ruby mumbled, "Like you." She added under her breath.

Weiss rolled her eyes and reached over to pinch her cheeks. " _Ow_! Weiss!"

"Don't be a dolt, Ruby. I'm not perfect. No one is. In fact, you were the one who helped me see that. I suppose that it's ironic that _I_ of all people am telling you this now." She scolded lightly, running her calloused fingers through the crimson tipped hair. Ruby leaned into the touch, rolling into Weiss's side. "And it might be harsh of me to say this, but ultimately, you don't belong here."

Ruby flinched. "...Is that what you really think?" She asked in a small voice.

Weiss sighed and tilted Ruby's head up to face her. "If you don't go back, this future will not come to be. I think that we've watched enough movies to know what happens if you _do_ end up staying here. Frankly, I didn't survive so long to be erased because of some silly paradoxical event. And besides…don't you miss _your_ Weiss?"

"Of course I do!"

"Can you imagine never seeing her again, then?" The woman eyed her critically.

Ruby shook her head rapidly, feeling her stomach bottom out at that sentence. The very idea of not seeing her partner ever again was enough to make her dizzy with fear.

"Nuh uh. I do miss her. A whole lot. Everyone and everything here has been so awesome and _cool_ but…I feel like something's missing. It…doesn't feel the same without her." _Because I love her,_ went unsaid, but by the look of longing and affection in those young, silver eyes, Weiss felt her own heart stutter in her chest at the those words. She was just reminded why she fell in love with this silly girl in the first place.

"Well said." Weiss smiled, pressing a small kiss to her forehead. Ruby flushed and bit her lip in embarrassment. She'd forgotten that the woman in front of her was the future version of her partner. It felt like she was inadvertently confessing her feelings to Weiss, in a weird kind of way. Inwardly hoping she didn't give any of her true feelings away, Ruby forced a laugh.

"Hehe I hope I can become as awesome as the future me though. I still have a long way to go…"

Weiss ruffled her hair affectionately, making her giggle at the ticklish sensation. "So does everyone. Don't think too hard on it, you'll figure it out as you go. That's part of the fun, after all."

Ruby nodded, feeling much calmer than she'd felt since she talked with Penny. Seeing the redhead beginning to nod off, Weiss slid under the covers and pulled the girl against her. Ruby let out an adorable squeak while Weiss grinned almost evilly.

"I _will_ be the big spoon tonight and you can't do anything about it."

A pause. Weiss held her a little tighter.

"Sweet dreams, Ruby." She murmured, and with a clap of her hands, the room went dark.

* * *

 _A/N_ :

Holy fucking shit guys, this story blew up more than I ever expected. Fluff is such a powerful weapon, lol! This chapter was ridiculously hard to get off the ground, even though I actually had it planned out. I hit a writer's block halfway through and ended up playing Birthright, which was just me procrastinating. I wanna give some heartfelt thanks to **Drednaught** , who ended up giving me the idea which finally enabled me to finish this chap. Thanks dude!

So yep, there you have it. Side B part 3 is officially over. The next chapter will be pretty short in comparison, like a epilogue. Also, did anyone catch that Lion King and Enabler joke I put in there? I'm sorry for being trash :P my sense of humor is questionable at best, hyuk hyuk. To everyone who read, reviewed, favourited and followed this story, Thank you guys so much! Honestly, waking up to a email full of notifications is the best fucking feeling _ever_. I read all of the reviews and will reply to them, tho I may take some time to do so since I'm the worst procrastinator ever, so let me know what you think of this chap!

Constructive critisism is appreciated, do let me know what stuff you think worked, what didn't, and what can be improved. As always, thanks for reading y'all!


	7. Home Sweet Home - Side B

Her first order of business was to put on some clothes. The ensemble she had borrowed from Pyrrha was gone, and she was nastily made aware of that fact when a particularly chilly breeze swept through the room. Ruby knew she ought to be grateful that her undergarments remained as they were (they were pretty expensive) but she would've liked to keep that shirt.

Tumbling out of bed, she dragged out a worn but comfortable sweatshirt and a pair of shorts that Weiss had always said looked good on her, and put them on. Ruby yawned, stretching her arms over her head before bending down to work the kink out of her legs, lightly massaging her calf. There was no telling when the aches in her various body parts would subside, but she hoped it would soon. Feeling like eighty-year-old who'd woken up on the wrong side of the bed wasn't exactly something she wanted to experience every morning.

Ruby missed frolicking in wild, embroiled in battles of epic proportions – just her, Crescent Rose, and the Grimm. She was so done with all this time travelling nonsense. Especially since she got sent back to the past, in her goddamn _underwear_. The last of her aches finally dissipated after several minutes of kneading.

Ruby's head swivelled to the slumbering form on the bed. She smiled, relieved to be back where she belonged. And yet, when she thought about the younger Schnee, it was like her chest had been carved empty – a feeling of melancholy and hollowness. If anything, Ruby would have liked to stay behind to help Weiss grow out of her shell, but she told herself, firmly, that it wasn't her place. Her younger self would be responsible for that.

Ruby walked over to the windows, grabbing each end of the curtain and flung them apart, allowing the morning sunlight to pelt the unconscious woman on the bed. She thought about the whistle she'd used on team RWBY in their first year of Beacon and smothered a chuckle.

"Up and at em' Weiss!"

At the sudden flash of bright light, Weiss pressed her face deeper into her pillows to muffle her groan of discontent. No matter how old they were and how many things they'd been through, some things never changed. Ruby was still the early bird, and Weiss was still the overgrown barnacle that to the clung to the bed like it were the underside of a boat.

Trying to shield her eyes from the glare, Weiss groggily wondered if Remnant would fall into disarray if she found a way to make the sun match the moon. It was a viable action, considering the damned ball of blinding light _always_ found a way to ruin her mornings. That vein of though soon floated away, however, when she turned away from the window to face the wall. Darkness, her old friend. Weiss felt herself drifting off again, her grunts of irritation quickly petered off into a loud snore, her form stilling.

Ruby shook her head in exasperation. Well…that could've gone better. Usually, the redhead was a big believer of the phrase ' _If you fail, then try, try, again_ ' but she didn't think it applied to the likes of her girlfriend, who was apt to freeze anyone in a block of ice if they'd tried to drag her out of the bed.

A tired Weiss was a cranky Weiss. And a cranky Schnee was something no one would want to be within the vicinity of.

Since trying to force Weiss to get up was out of the question if she wanted her limbs attached, Ruby decided to turn her attention elsewhere. Scratching out 'waking Weiss up' from her mental to-do list, she moved on to the next most important item. Finding something to chomp on to appease her growling stomach.

She let her mind drift away, pondering on what to have for breakfast. The only obstacle that stood between Ruby and her breakfast was the fact that the kitchen was a good ten minutes away. She groaned. She would die of hunger before she could even get there. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, lightly bouncing on her heels, and as if the universe had heard her plea – roaming silver eyes landed on a basket of fruits that sat innocently on the night stand across the room.

Ruby strode towards it, grabbing the apple that sat comfortably on the pyramid like pile. She held it up to check for any bruises or bugs, and was treated to the awe inspiring sight of the red fruit glistening sweetly under the morning sunlight. With its sweet, heady scent, the apple beckoned the hungry woman to bite into the too crisp skin. Ruby licked her lips, running her fingers over the fruit and marvelling at how firm and smooth it felt.

"Time to dig in." She told herself gleefully, and was about take an oversized bite – when a tired groan shattered her tunnel vision. Ruby froze, the weight of her actions suddenly sinking into her mind. Propelled by an unseen force, the redhead stiffly looked up and stared at the gleaming silver plaque.

Weiss, with all the fierceness of a pancake hungry Nora, had literally instilled the _'no eating rule'_ in their bedroom when they'd first moved in. Ruby had agreed to it back then, it was hard not too when Weiss was waving an oversized ice-pick in her face, but she didn't think that her girlfriend would be enforcing that rule seriously. Oh how wrong she'd been.

Coming home from a mission and seeing that giant abomination of a sign hanging above the nightstand had nearly given Ruby an aneurysm.

Lips pursed, Ruby shook herself out of the horrible memory and stared longingly at the apple in her hands. Still, why would the fruits be here? Weiss would never break one of her own rules so it obviously wasn't her doing. It didn't make a lick of sense, considering that Weiss also ordered the mansion's staff to keep food stuffs strictly in the kitchen. Ruby poured over the strangeness of everything with furrowed brows and then finally–

" _Yang_." Ruby shook her head when she put the pieces together. "You're evil." She muttered.

The blonde must've snuck into the bedroom while they were asleep and planted the basket. No doubt she'd roped Blake into helping her, Ruby knew on good authority that spending too much time with Yang tended to erode one's moral compass.

Ruby looked between the listless figure on the bed and the apple in her hand. She bit her lip. Maybe this would work if she ate really, _really_ quietly. She'd done stealth missions before, and she'd never failed a single one. Qrow's bearded face came into mind. ' _Some rules are made to be broken._ ' He'd told her a long time ago. Throwing caution to the wind Ruby took a bite out of the apple, her eyes fluttering shut as she savoured the sweet juice that burst from its cellulose prison.

"Ruby Rose." The redhead nearly choked, her hand nearly going limp. "No eating in the bedroom."

Weiss yawned, the adorable sight offset by the dangerous undertone in her words. She stretched tiredly as the light seeped into her eyes, the frozen pools of blue narrowing when she saw juice dripping down her girlfriend's chin. If even one drop landed on her carpet, there would be hell to pay, and from the look Ruby was giving her, it was apparent that she understood that fact clearly.

"Eep." Figuring that she was in trouble either way, Ruby ignored the stern looks and continued eating the apple with relish. She dug her grave even deeper when she walked toward the bed in a mock confident swagger and sat down at the edge of the mattress, wiping the sticky juices with one hand. Weiss cringed, shoulders tensing.

" _Ruby_." Weiss warned again, sounding more awake this time.

"It's too late. The apple has been devoured." She cheekily brandished the apple rind, making sure to shake it back and forth before tossing it into the small wastepaper basket. And promptly leaped into the air when Weiss pinched her thigh. _Hard_.

While Ruby was whining about how violent she was, Weiss eyed the basket disdainfully, her lips twisting into a grimace. The thought a veritable army of ants, trekking to their bedroom and leaving a disgusting trail of _ick_ on the floor was enough to make her shiver violently.

"Honestly," She muttered, "What a way to start out the morning."

She paused, a movement to the left catching her eye, a dark and formless shape reaching towards her.

"Ruby, if you touch me with that sticky hand, I swear to _remnant_ that you'll be sleeping on downstairs for a week." Weiss growled reproachfully, watching the crimson haired fiend like a hawk from the corner of her eye.

Ruby let her hand hang in mid-air for a moment before pulling it back, licking the remaining juice of her fingers. She shrugged and tried to look innocent but dropped the act when Weiss shot her one of her patented warning looks. Specifically, the kind that could make grown men shake in their boots and send Ursi running for the hills.

"Aw. Can I kiss you, though?" She pouted, plans ruined.

"Do you even need to ask?" Weiss replied, rolling her eyes affectionately. She shut her eyes when Ruby leaned down, their lips pressing against each other's. When they pulled apart, both women sighed, faces slightly flushed.

"Morning kisses are awesome." Ruby pumped her fist in the air.

"Indeed."

"C'mon, bedhead." Weiss rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her locks. "Let's have a nice, hot bath and go downstairs to get some food."

* * *

"So, how was your trip?" Weiss caressed Ruby's hand from across the table as she took a sip of coffee. "You were sent back to Beacon, I hope?"

"Yep. It was super cool to see everything just how I remembered it." Ruby chugged her hot chocolate before picking up a napkin to wipe the foamy moustache away. "But why did I have to be half-naked?! Thank god we didn't get to the good part yet, if not, I'd been branded as some kind of pervert!"

"I see your point." Weiss frowned at the thought of all random students getting an eyeful of _her_ girlfriend.

"Well, at least I ended up spending time with a mini-you." Ruby teased, "You were so tiny and cute! Ugh, it was sooooo hard to resist cuddling you."

"I don't think she would have survived if you did." Weiss said, thinking about how closed off and uptight she'd been in those days. At seventeen, the idea of a hug was enough to make her cringe, and mentioning it would have made her tense up almost immediately. "Was the past me like how you remembered? Because I remember not being the most…approachable person back then." That was putting it lightly, if she was being honest with herself.

"Naw, you were pretty cool! Intimidating, but awesome." Ruby snickered.

"Oh please." The woman bemoaned.

"I'm serious! But, your glares were definitely something else." Ruby laughed, eyes glinting playfully. She poked the other woman's cheek. "It was like your eyes were lasers…or something."

"Hush, you." Weiss grumbled. "I don't think it being _that_ bad."

"Wellll, I might be exaggerating a _little_!" Ruby pulled her finger back and grabbed the spoon, shovelling another spoonful of cereal into her mouth, "But it was still scary."

Ruby coughed into her palm when Weiss shot her a look, a cue for her to stop pursing that particular topic. "Alright, fine, I'll stop. Sheesh!" Weiss smiled smugly, and polished off the rest of her coffee in a single gulp. "Enough about what I did, I wanna know how _you_ handled the fifteen-year-old me! Was I too adorable that both of you ended up cuddling the day away?"

Blue eyes rolled in their sockets. "Nothing of that sort happened, you dunce. We just had a picnic." The corners of her lips lifted, "And shared the strawberries she found in the fridge. Your emergency stash, I presume.'

"WHAT?" Weiss pretended to mull over her toast as Ruby nearly bit off her own tongue, her breaths coming out in rough spurts, probably because of the cereal that'd went down the wrong way.

Weiss glanced at Ruby's bowl with distaste. How she ate those disgusting, sugary treats every day and still remained as healthy as ever was something Weiss could never understand. Damn her girlfriend and her freakishly fast metabolism.

Ruby folded her arms, scowling when she finally stopped trying to hack herself to death. "…But if she's me, does that mean I should be mad? I mean, she's still me, no matter how young and tiny."

Leaving Ruby to mull over whatever paradox she'd just thought up, Weiss slowly lifted a knife to spread the rest of the grape jam on her remaining toast. Though her demeanour was casual as she slowly carved through her breakfast, the ivory haired woman was mentally reviewing yesterday's events with a strange intensity that belied how calm she felt.

Everything that happened seemed like a distant dream.

A younger version of Ruby appearing out of a small, red explosion. Dressing and showing said girl around the premises, letting her explore the workshop and fawn over Crescent Rose. Taking her out on a picnic, and then wiping her down when she'd accidentally tripped into their lunch. The last memory made Weiss's smile stretch particularly wide, and she gave her Ruby an amused look. The klutziness the girl had displayed wasn't as prominent in her older self, and Weiss didn't know whether to feel sad or relieved. Sure, Ruby still had her bouts of carelessness every now and again, but none of them ever involved food.

"You know what? I don't think I can be mad at her for taking those strawberries." Ruby was still going on about her beloved treats, and Weiss swallowed a mouthful of mushy carbohydrates. "I mean, I'd definitely do the same if I saw em' just _sitting_ there. The temptation would be too great! And technically, what's mine is hers."

Weiss shook her head. "Let it go, Ruby. Pouring over something that insignificant is useless. I'll just have get more strawberries for you. Did you forget we erected a strawberry farm on the patch of land I got for you on our anniversary?"

"A patch of land?" Ruby voiced her disbelief. "Weiss, we needed a _car_ to inspect every inch of it. I even fell asleep during the drive! You can't call that a _patch_." She placed her elbows on the table and leaned forward to boop Weiss's nose. Weiss sniffed and returned the gesture.

"Was there anything else you and mini-me did? Oh, oh! I bet you called for Blake and Yang when you first found her." Ruby teased, distracting her.

Weiss shrugged. "I did. They weren't much help but their support was greatly appreciated."

Ruby tilted her head. "Did Yang show her the…y'know."

Weiss grimaced, "No." she said, remembering how strained Yang's expression had been the fifteen-year-old had asked her about the gloved hand. "And I think it was for the best. I know you, Ruby, you'd probably be beside yourself with worry if someone revealed that Yang was going to lose her arm. No matter how old you are, Yang is still your sister."

Ruby fell silent, speaking up after a beat of silence. "I…guess. But what if, I mean, what if _she_ – could change things? Yang wouldn't lose her arm if she knew what was coming, right?"

"And?" Weiss huffed. "Thinking about what-if's will help no one. Also…didn't Yang mention that she lost her arm when she saved Blake during the invasion?"

The redhead took in a sharp breath. She'd forgotten about that little titbit.

"It's already over, Ruby. Don't beat yourself over on what could have been." Weiss squeezed her hand affectionately. "Team RWBY still went on to become huntresses, didn't we? In the grand scheme of things, what happened to us was nothing more than an obstacle, an obstacle we eventually overcame."

"Right." Ruby murmured. She paused, drinking in the comforting smile on Weiss's face, the affection in those warm pools of blue making her heart ache. "You know what? All this time travel stuff is making my head hurt."

"Ditto." The smirk on Weiss's face grew. "Let's just finish breakfast and get back to bed. I want to pick up where we left off."

Ruby grinned, pecking her lips lightly, sweetly. "You're insatiable, Weiss, and the best part is that I wouldn't have you any other way."

* * *

 **A/N:**

Wowww this took freaking long to write. I blame school, life, and general procrastination. I rewrote this three times (goddamn) and I finally liked how it turned out. I'm just not feeling it lately, which sucks. I hope you guys liked this chapter, and I hope the drop in writing quality wasn't _too_ bad. And holy fuck, I reread all the other chapters – there is so much cheese that I could've made a sandwich. Oh the cheesiness of it all! :')

I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter, be sure to let me know what you think! And many thanks to everyone who's reviewed and read my other stories, as well as the many (or one) anons left reviews! The next chapter will be 'side A' and probably the last chapter. I better get off my butt and start on that soon.


	8. Home Sweet Home - Side A

Weiss adjusted her ponytail and glanced over her shoulder. She sighed, her smile equal parts wariness and amusement as she discreetly observed the bob of black hair that poked over the top of the bushes.

Neptune twisted his body to follow her line of sight, "Why are you staring at those bushes?" He asked, his incredulous tone making her smile slip. It returned with full force, however, when Ruby submerged herself and made the bushes rustle, its branches shaking as if it were trying to get rid of an unwelcome intruder.

N-No, it's nothing." Weiss choked out, and smothered the laugh that bubbled up.

"I never knew you were interested in plants." Neptune teased, "We can get you a potted plant if you'd like. Some flowers, even. We could visit the nearby florist." He gestured to the next street with tilt of his head.

"That won't be necessary." Weiss declined with a polite shake of her head. "I was simply admiring them. But I'm happy you offered though." She added hastily when she saw his face fall.

At her words, the heiress could hear an audible sigh of relief. Weiss fought not to roll her eyes. Ruby's stealth skills left much to be desired, and her teammates agreed that her sneakiness rivalled that of Roman Torchwick. It wasn't a compliment, considering how the man made it his life's mission to be as flamboyant as humanly possible.

Neptune brightened at her words and laughed.

"You can admire them after we eat, snow angel." He said, and pointed in the direction of an open air café several blocks down. It was a place he frequented, seeing as Scarlet was addicted to their coffee and Sun to their banana milkshake. He jokingly patted his stomach. "Let's go. I'm starving."

"Likewise." Weiss followed after him, picking up speed to match his stride. Ugh, she would rue the day she had to admit that tall people had an advantage in both height _and_ speed.

"So," She said after several beats of silence had passed, "How is your team enjoying the downtime before the festival so far?"

At Neptune's answer, they fell into an easy banter. Despite the initial awkwardness between them, they discovered that they had a lot in common. Their determination in academics was one such common ground and eventually, their conversation shifted towards their schools, Weiss and Neptune comparing how Beacon and Haven differed in curriculum and what facilities each school lacked.

Once the pair were a good distance away, Ruby carefully crept out from her hiding spot. She harrumphed, shaking the twigs and leaves out of her hood.

"Well, snow angel," she muttered, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "I'm glad you're having sooo much fun."

She shook her head and glared at their shrinking profiles. At the sight of Neptune and Weiss walking so closely to each other, jealousy spread through her like a raging wildfire. She pursed her lips, making her look like she had just swallowed a lemon. A _really_ sour lemon.

Ruby threw her hands up and yelled, "Damn it!"

Her outburst had everyone within hearing distance flinching or leaping away. The crowd scattered, some people stopping to stare at the commotion she caused. The flow of citizens around her eventually resumed, but now, the crowd gave her a wide berth – several people even stepping off the pavement to hurry past her.

Ruby jumped when she heard someone clear their throat. Letting out a faint "Eep." she hurried away when she noticed how many dirty looks she was getting. Ruby shook her head and took off in the direction of her targets.

Inwardly, she was cursing herself for the outburst. That had just been embarrassing. Before she could beat herself up about it, Ruby shook those thoughts out of her mind and worked on closing the distance between her and Weiss, intent on continuing her 'observation' of her teammate.

"Heh, you can't run from me!" Ruby preened, already close enough to trace the outline of their faces. The distance between them had been effortlessly closed after she sent a burst of aura to her legs, and activated her semblance.

She barely spared Neptune a glance before her attention was stolen by Weiss. From her hiding place behind the lamppost, Ruby felt her legs go weak at the look of determination set in the Weiss's face. Ruby gripped the edge of her cape with one hand as she tried to get her stomach to stop fluttering.

After a few more minutes of spying, Weiss and Neptune had apparently reached their destination; the pair exchanging a few words before they entered a café, and picked the table that was the furthest from the road. Ruby stared at the busy establishment and huffed. How was she going to spy on them now? There were waiters constantly going back and forth, and their bodies easily blocked Weiss's small profile.

As luck would have it, Ruby noticed an empty table behind them. With a grin, she prepared herself to sneakily claim it, and activated her semblance. She jumped out from behind the lamppost and darted into the café, and once she was close enough, dived into the empty seat. This happened in less than a minute, and Ruby congratulated herself for a job well done.

She quickly slumped, sinking deeper into her seat, when Weiss casually glanced in her direction. There wasn't a startled shout of _'Ruby!'_ or _'you dolt!'_ so she assumed she had successfully evaded detection. Ruby raised her hand and did a small fist pump.

"Thanks for those ninja lessons, Blake!" She whispered, her lips stretching into a satisfied smirk. The smirk was quickly replaced by a frown when she realized that Weiss's slim profile was completely, and utterly, blocked from her position by Neptune's muscular frame. She stared at his back. It mocked her with its finesse, and Ruby grudgingly admitted that the boy had lucked out in the gene lottery.

Oh well. She just had to grin and bear it. Sighing quietly, Ruby settled down to eavesdrop on their conversation.

* * *

Weiss beckoned the waiter eyeing Ruby in suspicion with a dainty wave of her hand.

The girl was so oblivious that it bordered on horrifying.

After Ruby had dashed passed their table the air practically dripped with rose petals. The movement had also kicked up a gust of wind that took Weiss's napkin with it. Following that, almost everyone in their surrounding tables had turned to look at Ruby when she dived into her seat, the red cape fluttering like a flag behind her.

The ensuing ruckus of people vacating their tables nearly made Neptune turn around, but Weiss had swiftly diverted his attention by handing him the menu and then proceeded to bombard him with inane questions on what to order.

"Oum preserve me." Weiss muttered. She pinched the bridge of her nose to quell the incoming headache.

Neptune paused in his chatter to tilt his head. "Weiss?" He asked inquiringly, unsure of what he did to deserve her sudden frustrated sigh. "Are you… okay? "

Weiss coughed into her hand and waved his concern away. "Yes." She said, forcing herself not to frown, "Sorry, I just thought I saw… something." Like her dunce of a team leader, for instance.

Weiss turned to look at the waiter standing patiently by their table, holding a pen over a perfectly still notebook. "Have you already decided on what to order?"

Neptune nodded and leaned forward to point at the picture on their shared menu, "This. The chicken pasta is pretty good." He smiled encouragingly at Weiss's questioning stare. "Trust me. It's definitely worth the lien."

Weiss returned his smile with one of her own and looked up to address the waiter.

"Chicken pasta for both of us, with the addition of a small salad for me. Oh, and…" She made the man lean closer and whispered, "One strawberry soda for that girl over there." She tossed a pointed glare in Ruby's direction. It was a wonder how the redhead remained oblivious to the chaos she'd caused. "You can put it on my bill."

The man nodded. His entire stance became more relaxed, and Weiss was relieved that she had been right in giving him a lifeline. Ruby would have no doubt flown into a panic if the waiter had decided to call out the café's proprietor to go and 'greet' her.

"Will that be all?" He said, glancing at the strange girl who was staring daggers at the blue-haired boy. Youngsters these days, he griped. Always fighting over boys.

"Yes, thank you." Weiss replied, reaching for her complimentary glass of water.

Giving them a slight bow, the waiter strode away to place their orders. With him gone, Weiss slowly sipped at her water, and focused her attention on Neptune.

She could feel her hand starting to shake, and she covered it up by smoothing down her combat skirt. Her nerves had come back to spite her.

"So," Neptune suddenly spoke up, making her jerk in surprise, "You said that you wanted to talk?"

She hadn't invited him out for nothing. Weiss was confident that Ruby could not hear them, so she directed her worries to the task at hand. Her insides coiled as she pondered on how to tactfully broach the subject.

"Y-Yes." Weiss replied, suddenly feeling lightheaded. She dreaded to bring the topic up. She could feel her chest tightening as an awkward silence settled between the two. Weiss tried to gather her courage. She couldn't back out. Not after Neptune had agreed to come here.

Weiss took in a deep breath. "I wanted to talk about–"

"Ruby. Am I right?" One of his eyebrows arched.

Weiss nodded, slightly startled. She hadn't expected him to cut straight to the heart of the matter.

"Don't worry, snow angel. Believe it or not, I'm actually a pretty good listener." He said, flashing her a smile. There was nothing off about his smile, but Weiss couldn't help but notice how it lacked its usual luster.

Neptune leaned back in his seat. Weiss gave him a weak nod, and started to talk.

* * *

Ruby slurped down the last of her strawberry soda before pushing the glass away. Weiss and Neptune had been talking for almost an hour now –she hadn't counted the time they'd taken to finish their meals– and her unease had steadily grown until she was at the verge of boiling over.

Ruby stared despondently at her empty drink as she chewed the inside of her left cheek. She flinched when she tasted blood, immediately regretting her decision. Annoyed at herself, Ruby turned to look at the _couple_ ,her mind bitterly spat the word, and strained her ears to catch the exchange of words once the chatter around them had died down enough for her to hear.

"–care too much about what people think."

A lengthy pause, and then, "This might sound rich coming from me, but–"

His words disappeared into the background. Ruby muttered a curse towards the slowly growing crowd around them. With nothing else to do, Ruby began glaring intensely at Neptune's back, willing him to catch fire. Separating his neck from the rest of his body seemed like an enticing prospect, especially now that she was bored out of her mind.

Neptune suddenly sighed. Ruby perked up, and leaned closer to them in hopes of catching their next words. "She'll understand." He said, raising his arm to make some sort of gesture.

Ruby clicked her teeth. Who were they talking about? And what did they need this person to understand? The snippets of conversation revealed next to nothing about what they were talking so intensely about. And why was Weiss confiding in him anyways! Ruby was her best friend, not this goggle wearing doofus!

Neptune suddenly stood, his chair nearly flying backwards. Ruby caught herself before she squeaked in surprise and stealthily flipped her head in the other direction. She took in several deep breaths as she tried to calm herself. She hadn't expected him to just stand up like that. Sheesh! She nearly had a heart attack.

Weiss and Neptune were probably exchanging their goodbyes, Ruby told herself, as she forced her body to relax. They had no idea she was behind them, anyway. She would just stay in this position until they left.

After the footsteps had faded, Ruby allowed herself to sigh heavily. She learned next to nothing by coming here and only had a stomach full of strawberry soda to show for it. Speaking of which…where the heck did that soda come from?

As Ruby tried to come up with an answer, a slender arm looped around hers and pulled her to her feet. She yelped, flailing in surprise. She turned to yell at the person who'd done it and came face to face with Weiss. Ruby went red, a combination of shock and embarrassment.

"Let's go." Weiss said, barely batted an eye at Ruby's red faced spluttering.

The heiress whisked her out of the café. The waiter who had been tending to them said his goodbyes, seeing them off with shake of his head.

* * *

Weiss was jerked to a stop when Ruby planted her feet in the pavement.

"What?" Weiss asked, her words accompanied by an irritated glower. "Why did you stop?"

"Where are we going?" Ruby demanded, mildly annoyed at being dragged around like a shopping cart.

"Somewhere nice."

Despite her vaguely worded answer, Ruby continued glowering at her, prompting Weiss to sigh and ask, "Why are you giving me that look?"

"Because I'm mad at you." Ruby replied matter of factly, chin up and eyes defiant.

"How odd. Don't you think I should be the one glaring? After all, you followed Neptune and I from Beacon, didn't you?"

Weiss rolled her eyes when Ruby paled. The tables had turned, and now, the crimson haired girl found herself in the hot seat.

"Ruby." Weiss said, her tone flat, "You weren't exactly subtle. I knew you were in that bush and at the cafe. Who did you think ordered that soda for you? Honestly."

"I, er," Ruby panicked as she tried to come up with a reply, and stumbled over her words in her haste to come up with a suitable cover story, "Um, I can explain…

Weiss couldn't help herself. Her partner's reaction, while expected, was proving to be too adorable. She giggled, muffling the sound by cupping a hand over her mouth. Ruby's reaction upon hearing the pleasant sound was instantaneous; the crimson haired girl dropped her shoulders as the panic fueling her bled away, leaving only relief, and let out a long, suffering sigh.

"It's not funny." Ruby grumbled, wanting to pull her hood over her face. While a small part of her was grateful that the heiress wasn't yelling her head off, the bigger part could only pout at the unfairness of the situation, and how easily the tables had been turned.

Weiss cleared her throat. "We can discuss your transgressions later, Ruby," The heiress gestured to her feet, "For now, I'd like you to start walking. As I said, I'm taking you somewhere nice."

Ruby perked up at her words. Weiss's relaxed demeanor was unexpected. She was taking the whole 'being followed' thing absurdly well. Ruby would even go as far as to say that she was acting… weird. Before she could think on it, Weiss slipped a hand into hers and pulled her along.

Ruby blushed.

…she wasn't going to complain though.

* * *

"Weiss!"

An affectionate sigh, followed by "Yes, Ruby?"

Ruby stared at the frosted glass window and fiddled with the coins in her pocket.

"Are you sure I'm allowed to go inside?"

Her voice trailed off as she continued to stare, swallowing every so often that well-dressed individuals walked out the double doors of the fine establishment in front of them.

This particular bakery was featured regularly in newspapers, often because they'd impressed people with a lot of cash to burn. It went without saying that their treats were absurdly priced –anyone who looked less than a million lien wouldn't even register as a blip on their radar.

"Of course we can." Weiss replied, her eyebrow arching at Ruby's meek tone and choice of words. She didn't sound enthusiastic, which was strange. Weiss had expected Ruby to fall over herself in her rush to go inside, not shy away or look as if she had stepped on a bed of nails. Ruby looked as if one of the professors had sprung a surprise quiz on them.

"Is something wrong?" Weiss ventured, "I thought you'd be more excited about this. I understand that this is a very famous bakery."

Weiss had done her research, and was well aware of the bakery's track record with rich clients. Her family's acquaintances frequently came here as well. It was a place that garnered attention, so they ought to be good at what they did… was what Weiss had thought before she'd brought Ruby here. But based on her partner's reaction, however…

"No, I really do wanna go in. It's just that…well," Ruby said and smiled sheepishly, "I don't think I would be welcomed."

Ruby shrugged, letting go of Weiss's hand to wring her own together. As the heiress watched Ruby shift from foot to foot, she was hit by an epiphany. No. It couldn't be... could it? There was no other explanation for the way Ruby was acting, and Weiss felt her stomach sink. She cursed under her breath. So much for trying to make Ruby's day.

"This isn't your first time here." Weiss stated flatly.

At Ruby's nod, she sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"I'm sorry." Weiss told her as she led the younger girl away. As they rounded the corner, she looked over her shoulder to shoot the bakery a dirty look, "If I'd known…"

Ruby flailed her arms, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"You don't need to apologize!" She blurted out. "They're just a bunch of snobby idiots."

It was obvious that Weiss blamed herself for dredging up unpleasant memories. It was sweet that she felt offended on her behalf, but Ruby didn't want her to feel bad for something they had no control over. Besides, Ruby didn't think she was missing out on much. If she couldn't have the grapes, they must've been sour anyways.

"We'll go somewhere else." Weiss gave her a firm nod, "If they're foolish enough to turn away a prospective customer, then let them." Inwardly, she was making plans to pay that bakery a visit. It wouldn't be good for business if word got out that the Schnee heiress wanted nothing to do with you.

"Aw, Weiss!" Ruby squealed, "You're the best partner I ever had!"

Weiss's heart stuttered in her chest, and she fought down the blush with quick eye roll. She tugged at her collar. It was getting awfully hot, and it wasn't because of the afternoon sun.

"Dolt," Weiss said and smiled, "I'm the only partner you ever had."

She blinked in surprise when Ruby booped her on the nose. Honestly. Weiss was supposed be the one comforting Ruby, and not the other way around.

"Forget those guys," Ruby pointed in the opposite direction. "Let's go to the place where I always get my cookies. It's really close by and their stuff is to die for!"

Her sentence was punctuated by the growl of her stomach. At Weiss's chuckle, Ruby bit her lip in exasperation.

"Alright Ruby," Weiss gave her a mock salute, smiling when the girl snorted, "I trust you. Lead the way."

* * *

It was an hour later when Weiss's scroll rang.

The girls stopped scarfing down the treats they'd bought –"What are you- that's my _finger_ you dolt!"– and after a brief scuffle, Weiss daintily wiped her hands with a tissue before taking out her scroll.

"Yang?" Weiss answered, shooting a warning glare at the red fiend who was poised to snatch the bag of goodies away. "What do you want? I'm kind of busy right now."

Weiss smacked Ruby's hand away. The younger girl stomped her feet in indignation.

"No, Yang." Weiss deadpanned after listening to her teammate's frenzied rant about conspiracies and missing younger sisters. "She hasn't been kidnapped by rogue white fang agents or whisked away by a secret organization that certainly does not exist."

Weiss gaped at the reply. "Why would you even think that? Yang! Just because she hasn't answered her scroll doesn't mean–" She clicked her teeth and thrust her scroll at Ruby. "Can you please calm your sister down before she burns down our entire room? I rather not have to sleep in the courtyard."

"Hello, Yang?" Ruby took the device without complaint and was promptly bombarded with a flurry of angry words.

"Yaaaaang!" she whined, "I already told you I was going to Vale! I left you a message on your bed, remember?" Ruby folded her arms, "Nope, I'm pretty sure Zwei didn't eat it. You forgot about it, didn't you?"

"She would forget her own name if she didn't constantly make puns out of it." Weiss muttered.

"Anyway, I'm with Weiss so you don't have to worry." Ruby continued, "Huh? No, we're eating right now." A pause, and then, "NO NOT LIKE THAT!" Ruby blushed brilliantly as she screamed into the scroll. "YANG!"

Weiss wrestled her scroll out of Ruby's grip when she made to throw it onto the busy road.

"Hey, that's mine! Yang, I'm hanging up." At the blonde's protests, Weiss let out a small shriek and said, "The room better be in one piece when we get back or I'm shaving off that golden mane of yours!"

Weiss ended the call, not bothering to wait for the reply. She massaged her temples and plucked a sugar roll from the plastic bag. "Sweet relief." She said, as she started eating it.

"I want one too!" Ruby pouted, her blush finally subsiding, "Give er' here."

Weiss didn't look up. "No way. I'm not trusting you with this bag until I finish."

"Weeeiss!" Ruby lunged for said bag, missing by several inches when the heiress danced out of the way.

"My name is to be spoken, not whined." Weiss chewed and swallowed the last of the treat, taking the extra effort to lick her fingers. She would normally condone behavior like this as it was simply obscene to do such unladylike things in public, but to waste what was left of it would simply be a crime. And Weiss was nothing, if a law abiding citizen.

She tossed the rubbish into the nearby bin and took out an identical looking sugar roll before handing it to Ruby.

"Here." She said, rolling her eyes when Ruby snatched both the treat and bag away, "That wasn't too bad now was it?"

Ruby pouted. "I'm not going to eat all of it, if that's what you're afraid of."

"That's what you said when team JNPR gave us that tub of ice-cream last month." Weiss replied, eyes narrowing. "And you finished the entire thing when we left to get more spoons."

"Psh." Ruby devoured the roll in a matter of seconds. It looked like she'd inhaled it. "That was a onetime thing. And besides. It was strawberry. Strawberry!"

"If you say so." Weiss shook her head.

After exchanging a few more words, some of which had either Weiss or Ruby laughing or rolling their eyes, the pair continued their walk towards the airship dock.

They'd been slowly strolling towards it after visiting Ruby's favorite bakery, but the frantic air of Yang's call seemed to have infected them – and now, they strode towards their destination with a newfound determination.

Weiss was using her scroll as they walked, only answering Ruby half-heartedly as she replied to several texts. After the third, ' _Yes, that sounds nice,_ ' Ruby stopped pelting Weiss with questions and stayed silent. She only let out small noises of amazement whenever they passed a shop, some items here and there drawing her interest.

Weiss frowned when she'd suddenly received a consecutive string of texts. "Hold on, Ruby." She tapped the girl on the shoulder to get her attention, "Let's stop for a moment."

"Uh, okay?" Ruby said, confusion coloring her words as she followed Weiss off the pavement and into the empty space between two shops. Ruby watched Weiss's eyebrows narrow, fingers flying furiously over the screen.

"Who're you talking to?"

Ruby stared at the scroll in Weiss's hands, curiosity shining bright in her silver eyes. "You should stop if it's making you upset."

At her words, Weiss schooled her expression into a neutral one. It couldn't, however, disguise the twitch in her forehead.

Weiss stared at the screen as if contemplating something. The noise of the busy street encompassed both of them as they stood there, Weiss with scroll in hand, and Ruby with her eyes on Weiss. After a beat of silence, the ivory haired girl scowled and shoved the device back into her pocket.

"Aren't you going to, y'know, reply?" Ruby asked with an air of suspicion. Her partner never liked putting things off. Homework was done the same day it was assigned, Myrtenaster would be cleaned straight after a mission, and messages where replied to when they were received. Weiss was behaving oddly, and Ruby wanted to know why.

So she asked again, "Who were you talking to?"

"That's none of your business." Weiss snapped, shooting Ruby a harsh glare. All previous traces of her good mood were gone and her posture was no longer relaxed – her face tight and back ramrod straight. It reminded the crimson haired girl of their initiation, when Weiss was a bundle of nerves and up to her ears in stress. "Let's just leave."

Weiss stomped down the path and Ruby following after her. The heiress continued her oblivious rampage down the street, and it made for a hilarious sight to see grown adults and teens fling themselves out of the way when they were on the receiving end of her soul chilling glare.

"Hey, slow down!" Ruby cried, grabbing Weiss's shoulder. Somewhere along the line, they'd followed on the branching paths and ended up in an empty street. Ruby had realized that they were walking directly towards the square where the White Fang had split the earth open with their train, and made to stop her partner. "Weiss! Are you listening?"

"I can hear you just fine." Came the irritated reply as Weiss shrugged her hand off. "Now be quiet."

"Alright, enough is enough." Ruby demanded and crossed her arms. She wasn't going to go any further, not if Weiss was going to keep acting like she'd personally offended her. All attempts at trying to lessen her bad mood had been rebuffed harshly, and combined with the lack of answers, Ruby felt her mood deteriorating fast.

Her sudden shift in tone made Weiss pause, and the heiress finally stopped walking to turn towards her. "Ruby, what are you talking about?"

"Look, I can understand if you don't want me to ask questions. But that doesn't mean you can get away with being rude!" Ruby said and pointed at their surroundings, which were devoid of any life or sound. "You're not even paying attention to where you're going!"

Even the birds had vacated the area. The only difference between this place and Mountain Glenn was the fact that there was a long line of yellow tape stretched across the main road to prevent curious sight seekers from going in further. Had Weiss kept walking, she'd have blazed past the tape and to god knows where.

Weiss sputtered and folded her arms defensively. "T-This is ridiculous!"

"You know what's ridiculous?" Ruby shot back, "Your attitude!"

"Says the girl who followed me from Beacon." Weiss stated, relishing in Ruby's flinch.

Ruby growled, "That's because I was worried! You've been acting weird the past few weeks and I just wanted to find out why." She kicked the dirt in frustration as the dam finally broke. "You avoid me outside of classes. You never ask me to study with you anymore." She threw her hands up, "And every time I ask what's wrong, you just brush me off. Today's the first in weeks that we've even hung out!"

"We can't all be happy-go-lucky like you! I just have a lot on my mind!"

"A lot on my mind, she says." Ruby chuckled, her lips twisting into a bitter smile. "You mean like Neptune? Why don't you just bite the bullet and ask him out already."

Weiss blinked when she saw Ruby's eyes taking on a familiar shine. Anger forgotten, Weiss took a tentative step forward. "Ruby," She asked, her tone of voice a far cry from the one she had previously used. "What do you mean by that?"

"You know exactly what I mean. Just ask him out so I can move on. Because if you don't," Weiss felt her eyes widen. "I'll never get over you!" Ruby shrieked. She turned to run but was forced to remain in place by the firm grip on her wrist.

"Let me go!" The crimson haired girl tugged her arm weakly, "You said you wanted to be alone, so just–"

Weiss pressed her scroll into Ruby's hand. "Read it." She said firmly.

Ruby eyed the scroll warily before glancing down. Weiss sighed and let go of her wrist. With a reluctant nod, Ruby swiped her finger across the screen, flinching a little when the screen blinked to life, and with Weiss's guidance, opened the message inbox.

The heiress grew uneasy as she watched her partner read exchange after exchange between her and Neptune. There wasn't much to speak of if she was honest, but it was the recent slew of messages, the one Ruby had asked about, that were the most telling.

"I…" Ruby said, dumfounded. Weiss gently pried the scroll out of her hands and slipped it back in her pocket. "I-I don't understand. Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Tell you what? That I violated your privacy by reading your diary?" Weiss sighed, bringing a hand up to rub her face, "We all know how that would have ended, Ruby."

Ruby gave her a sheepish smile. "Yeah…" She bit her lip. "So you know about my, um, feelings then?" At Weiss's nod, Ruby then said, "And you told Neptune about it?"

"What? Of course not." Weiss frowned, appalled at the mere idea. That wasn't something you told to just _anyone_. She trusted Neptune, but that wasn't her secret to tell. "Didn't you read the messages?"

"I did, but wasn't that what he was talking about?" Ruby tilted her head. This whole exchange was giving her a splitting headache because of how complicated it was. She was going to need a nap after this. "Then what exactly did the two of you talk about, if not about my feelings?"

Weiss took in a deep breath. Well, it was now or never, she mused. This whole affair was dragged out long enough. In any case, she would take responsibility for worrying Ruby to the point where following her out of Beacon was the only option she had.

"We talked about how I felt towards you." Weiss admitted, watching Ruby's face contort in surprise. "After spending time with your future self, I realized that I was harboring some," Weiss swallowed, "romantic feelings for you. I always had an interest in Neptune, but this was different."

"Um," Ruby raised her hand meekly, "Different, how?"

Weiss paused to think. "I'm sure you've noticed that he's quite attractive. It was what drew me to him. When he expressed an interest in me, I was flattered. Boys have always flocked to me because of my name, and it was the first time someone was interested in Weiss. And not Weiss Schnee. Spending time with him was fun. But somehow, I felt as if he never looked at me as an equal."

Weiss was surprised how smoothly the words flowed and she soldiered on. "To him, I am someone to be protected. The snow angel nickname is, though I loathe to admit it, cute, but it showed me the type of person he thinks me as."

She took in another deep breath.

"With you, Ruby, I can simply be Weiss, your best friend. One of the select few who you trust with life. And whenever I think about it, I find that it makes me…" Weiss fought down an embarrassed blush. "really happy. Being a Schnee is good. Great, even. But being your partner is better."

Weiss made a noise of surprise when Ruby wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug, "Wait you idiot, I'm not done!"

"Don't care." Ruby's words were muffled against Weiss's shoulder. After a few minutes of strangled silence, both girls blushing too much speak, Ruby finally released her. Smiling, Ruby gestured for her to continue.

Weiss cleared her throat. "As I was saying. It was your future self's appearance made me realize what I felt for you. When I found your diary, I managed to confirm your feelings for me, and it was then that I started avoiding you."

"Weiss, that makes zero sense. Why did you do that?"

Weiss steeled herself, and said, "Because I don't think that I'm ready for a relationship. With school, and my father's impending wrath for avoiding him… I'm not ready for such a big thing."

She finally confessed. "What I was most afraid of, was disappointing you. I can't pursue a relationship with you at this point in time and I just–"

Ruby grabbed Weiss's hands, "You don't need to explain yourself." She said, wearing a comforting smile, "I mean, my feelings for you aren't going away anytime soon. And you're stuck with me anyway, since we're partners and all."

At her words, Weiss finally relaxed. Ruby wasn't mad, or disappointed. Which was what she didn't dared hoped for.

Ruby sighed, "Besides, I think it's clear from this that we still have some ways to go."

"Right." Weiss replied, basking in the warmth of Ruby's hands on hers. "And I'm sorry. For not telling you about this and going to someone else instead." She gave Ruby a wry smile. "Neptune isn't exactly pleased with me after today. I did ask him out just to get his help on this," She gestured between them, "situation."

Ruby nodded. "Yep. He's probably mad." She lifted her hand to show Weiss the half empty bag of bread, "We should go back and get more for him."

Weiss scoffed, "You're just saying that so you can eat the rest of the bread."

"Hehe, at least I tried."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "I'll apologize to him when we're back at Beacon."

They turned away from the yellow tape and looked in the other direction. Ruby didn't let go of her hand. Weiss made no move to shrug it off either.

Instead, she smiled and said, "Let's go. We have a long walk ahead of us."

* * *

 _A/N:_ Wasn't the ending I expected to write, but hey. After rewriting this many, many times, I finally ended up with this. I think it's the best ending out of all the rewrites I've done.

I may add a few more snippets after vol 4 premieres (I smell Whiterose angst incoming) but for now, think of _Oh Schneezus_ as complete.

Thank you for reading the story! I hope you enjoyed it.


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